Catching Evanescence
by Ninisty
Summary: It's no secret that everyone has their own troubles in life. Some don't know who they are or why they went there and others... Don't even want to be there. Can such a dysfunctional group of individuals even form a good team? Takes place a year before the events of RWBY.
1. Roll for Initiation

Disclaimer: Ownership of RWBY belongs to that of Monty and Rooster Teeth

' _Thoughts'_

 _ **Flash Backs**_

『 Telecom 』

* * *

≤ Air Bus to Beacon ≥

* * *

A teenager sat on one of the many benches inside of the Airship leading to Beacon academy. An annoyed, yet devastated look plastered on his face could easily be seen. Subjectively making majority of the other participants of the transportation avoid him. The look on his face was both rightfully so and well deserved. Why might you ask? Well this teen was still absolutely mortified at even being sent to the Combat Academy known as Beacon. He did not choose to enter in the first place. His eyes narrowed as he recalled the events that brought him here.

Ceril was just a normal red-headed, tanned skin teenager with a non-combative semblance for perfect memory. The life goal he chose for himself was to be that of a fine researcher and make the world proud at the achievements he would bring. Yet that all came crashing down when his oh dear and beloved **sister** decided to not only mess with his transcripts, but even go as far as sending a letter of admission AND personally accepting in his steed. His oh so loving parents were so proud and the next thing he knew, he was being shipped off to Beacon Academy. His final moments of his home haunting his days of travel.

 _" **Oh Ceril, you make us so proud!" The male's supposed mother spoke out loud. She had all his luggage as she pushed him out of the car and towards the airbus on the dock.**_

 _" **W-wait, mom! I keep telling you, I don't want to go!" The red head said in a panic tone, but his father took a firm grasp onto his shoulder to help push him forward.**_

 _" **Oh son, your sister knows you so well. She said you'd be so nervous about this whole ordeal and try to escape, but worry not!" The older man shouted, "We were given clear instructions to not like you escape. Now off with you!"**_

 _" **Wait, just listen to me. This is all a mista-OOF" and in that next moment, the teen had been kicked rather violently into the Airbus. After falling to the floor, the teen proceeded to get up and attempt to run off, but his luggage crashed into him as he once again fell backwards. "No no no no!" Before the panicking teen could get back up, the doors closed violently. Cutting off his only escape. "I didn't want to join Beacon, why are you doing this!"**_

 _" **Oh Ceril~" The mother spoke sweetly, "I know you'll make us proud. Tata~!" As she spoke, the bus started to lift off the ground and fly away. Sealing his fate forever.**_

"ARGGHHHH! WHY ME!" The memory made Ceril shout as he stood up and pulled the strands of his hair. The rest of the students immediately backed off and avoided him as if he had the plague. "WHAT ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT?!" An emerald green glare was given towards the students who obviously didn't have a sense of privacy.

As of now, Ceril was definitely in his own world. Not caring for all the ones who backed off after his shouting. The red head made a quick turn for his bag as he opened the large luggage. Inside was three sets of uniforms and casual clothes. Under those clothing were the pieces to his chest plate and gauntlets. A sigh released from the teen's vocals and a silent thanks to his parents for at least packing his standard equipment. Even his choice of weapon was in there.

"Hey Red! I know the first day can be nerve racking, but you don't need to go all savage." A voice spoke out as Ceril closed his suitcase. _'Oh what is it now?!'_ That only thought passed through the red head as he turned around. Behind him was a very brawny and muscular man. His height considerably tall considering his own 6 foot standard. The man had brown spikey hair and a look of confidence that said that _AT LEAST_ he wanted to be here. "The names Paul, who might you be?"

"Let's just stick with Red and end this here." Ceril gave an unamused look whilst he stood straight, the brown haired man obviously having over a head in height over him. There was no need to make friends in a place he'd immediately dip on afterwards. Yet all Paul did was laugh and invade Ceril's personal space by wrapping his arm around him. How stupidly intrusive of him that piece of-!

"Awe come on, don't be like that Red. It's a whole new world out there for the next four years! I'm sure it's going to be a blast." Before Ceril could say or do anything, Paul let the red head go as he began to walk away. "Like I said, cheer up!" Giving off one of those cool guy thumbs and a shining teeth grin. Ceril could only sweat drop as he left from view.

' _I hate optimistic people…'_ The teen could only roll his eyes as he brought his luggage towards the window and looked out. The City of Vale was in perfect view along with Beacon Academy. He was definitely far away from home back at Mistral. _'Right, so I'll get off this Airbus and immediately take the next one ba-'_ before his thoughts could finish, the teen's scroll immediately rang. He picked up his transparent communication device and opened an incoming message.

『 Dear Beloved Ceril,

Your father and I would like to let you know that with all the children finally out of the house, we have decided to sell all of our belongings and go back to traveling. We wish you a great time at Beacon Academy. Your sister will be waiting at the entrance for you to give you the tour of the school and is eagerly waiting to meet with you.

Sincerely, Mom 』

"Ah… ah…" The last strands of sanity completely left the red head as he let out a loud screaming shout.

* * *

≤ Different Air Bus to Beacon ≥

* * *

"AAAARRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" The sudden shout made the small silver head jump in surprise. The sound seemed to have come from a different Airbus across the sky. A smirk left their face at the thought of someone obviously suffering from their first day at Beacon Academy.

"Hey pretty lady, you wouldn't mind if I asked for your na-"

"Fuck off, I'm a guy." One of the male students tried to speak to the female-looking silverette, only to get shot down in a fairly terrible way. Such a scenario immediately caught the attention of everyone in the room. While the person's statement caught the flirtatious teen off-guard. Some of the other students in the Airbus even went as far as laughing at the poor teen.

"Ohhhh! Really?!" A girl would shouted quite loudly. Making the entire room go silent as they immediately cut in front of the embarrassed teen knocking him aside. "Are you really a guy?! You're so cute, you look like a girl! What's your name!? Your chest is flat like mine. Oh my Oum, I can't tell!" The space of the silver haired male was immediately invaded by a fairly short and young girl with black hair lengthen to her back. Silver fox ears lay upon the top of their head. _'Huh a fox Faunus.'_

"Woah woah, hold up you dunce dog. I-"

"My name is Hena, let me see let me see!" The girl jumped up in excitement as she went and invaded more of his personal space.

"Let you see wha-" before he could finish his statement, the girl grabbed the waist of his shorts that the silver haired boy was wearing and attempted to pull it forward for a quick peak. His immediate reaction was to grab his shorts in response and try to keep them from being pulled off.

"Woah hold the scroll you fucking vixen! UNHAND MY GARMENTS AT ONCE!" Just as the girl was about to make the final pull, she had been clobbered over the head with the sheath of a Katana and grounded to the floor. A tall man with black hair and brown husky ears glared angrily at the small girl that was now rubbing the giant lump on her head.

"Ow… Slovik~ Why…!" A long pout was given up to the teen with big teary red eyes. His glare only narrowed more at the fox before looking up at the embarrassed boy.

"Sorry about that, this girl doesn't understand the concept of personal space. Or privacy." Another glare was given as he took his eyes off the silver haired person and back onto the fox Faunus. "Or decency…" Hena immediately averted their teary eyes like a dog caught doing something bad. "Well as you know, my name is Slovik. This is Hena. Just ignore her like I do."

A glare was given to both of them, the silver haired person obviously not amused by what was going on in the least bit, but gave their name begrudgingly. "Arcana…"

"ANA!" Hena immediately jumped ready for another grab at the short male. "There's an ANA in their name! It has to be a girl, I need to see!" Slovik immediately grabbed the girl on the shoulder and slammed her to the ground. A loud gasp of air escaped her lips as she went down hard. A long groan was given from Hena as she could only see stars in her perception. Arcana was caught completely off guard while all the spectators who were still watching stared in shock at such an action. Slovik merely shrugged at everyone without a care.

"It's literally the only way to get her to shut up. I promise you that."

"Brother… why would you do that~" the girl mumbled out loud as she sat up and covered her face.

"I am not your brother!" An instant reaction came off of the now agitated husky, "they're not your brother, and he's not your brother! You don't have a brother!" his calm demeanor completely broken. Only this girl, only this stupid pathetic girl could tilt Slovik off so much and he couldn't do anything about it.

"You are my brother~ my only brother~ you make me happy when the Grimm attack~ you never know, brother, how much I love you. Please don't take my brother away~" Hena immediately began to sing in response as she motioned herself to back and forth to her tune.

Slovik could only face palm as he grabbed Hena by the collar of her shirt and begun to drag the singing girl away. "Sorry about this uh, Arcana. Nice meeting you or something." Without waiting for a reply, the male faunas began to drag the fox away. The girl still singing randomly as her bottom was dragged across the floor and out of the sight of public.

* * *

≤ Beacon Academy: Entrance ≥

* * *

"This is now my life, I am in hell." Ceril spoke out loud as he stood in front of a slightly shorter girl who looked as if she was his twin with very long and wild hair. A diabolical smile plastered on her face as the sister held up a turtle cloak to him.

"Oh Ceril, I'm so proud of you! I even got this for you to wear in celebration!" The excitement in her voice absolutely real. Which only made the red head aggravated at her talking like him being here was even an accomplishment.

"You're proud of me Nini?! You modified my exam grades! You sent an admission letter to Beacon! Then you pretended to be me and accepted this role! Are you crazy?!"

"ABSOLUTELY!" She shouted in utter joy from his argument as she wrapped the turtle cloak around him. Ceril stared with a mortified expression as his sister had caught him off guard. Her devious smile soon warmed up as she raised the hood-like mask of a turtle. "It's okay Ceril, this is for the best. I've already made the headmaster aware of the foul play. He has agreed to allow you to participate in the initiation." Ceril looked away. That was a smile from his sister that he couldn't stay mad at. So the next best thing was to not look and stay mad anyways.

"I'll just flunk out of it then. I don't need it." A soft giggle was given as the sister placed her hand on his cheek. Making the teen face her gaze.

"You'll do fine Ceril. I have complete faith in you. You were destined for something greater. I can see it, our parents can see it. You just don't." Then just like that, her warm smile turned into a smirk again as she spoke in a tease tone. "Plus, you'll be homeless if you don't pass." Oh yes, how could he possibly forget that? There was completely that. How could his parents go and sell everything?! The only thing he got in response was that all his stuff would be mailed over to a storage facility for whatever he needed picked up. Nini took out a student hand book and placed it into his hands. It was obvious that Ceril was done talking and pushing any further was wrong. "Ceril… I'd wish you luck, but I know you don't need it. I love you, even if you feel that your life is ruined right now." With that, the red headed girl began to walk away.

"Tsk, what am I supposed to say to that?" Looking down, the teen stared at the hand book and opened it. The booklet turned out to be a handmade map of the school with various comments in each of those places. Such as things like. Cafeteria, you eat here. Classroom, you don't learn here. Combat Room, best class ever. Garden, wonderful p.s. no patrols between 11 to 4 best make out spot ever. Ceril slammed the book closed as he narrowed his eyes. Wonderful.

The teen began to walk towards the auditorium for the entrance ceremony. As he did so, many students began to laugh and giggle at his cute cartoony turtle cloak. The red head merely released a "hmph". As he pushed the cloak sideways to make it flow in the wind with his pace. He was embarrassed definitely, but it'd be the last thing he did if he didn't rock this cloak until he could finally put it away.

* * *

≤ Beacon Academy: Podium ≥

* * *

"and I wish you all a good year." The headmaster of Beacon spoke aloud. The crowd let out low mumbles of confusion whjilst they spoke amongst themselves. A blonde staff member in the back could be seen facing palming in obvious stress. The headmaster himself kept an apathetic expression. Only taking a moment to sip his coffee. After several moments, the sighing blonde took the position at the podium in the place of the headmaster.

"I apologze for _**Headmaster**_ Ozpin's choice of poor humor.." Hena in the crowd made a low chuckle as she gestured over to Slovik who was seated next to her.

"Ou, did you hear the emphasis on Headmaster?" Slovik snorted as he humored her.

"Do you think it was bolded or in italics?"

"Why not both?"

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch." The blonde teacher spoke above the murmuring crowd. A silent demand to usher in silence. "I'd like to personally welcome you all to Beacon. You all will have tough times ahead of you, but there will be good times as well. I'm confident that many of you will persevere together with your selected teams that you will placed with during Initiation. Speaking of which, will be held tomorrow at four sharp. Be prepared and don't be late."

Glynda gave an antagonizing glare at Ozpin as she left the podium. Students began to leave the auditorium as the man in question spoke up. "Good job, couldn't have done better myself." Another sip of coffee was taken, the humor obviously lost.

"Every year Ozpin, _every_ **single** _ **year!**_ "

"Yet you still haven't prepared a speech in response." Both adults began walking out the stage doors.

"Oh no no no, you know I'm not falling for that. Next year, I'll make sure you have a speech prepared. Mark my words." Ozpin didn't say anything as he left the presence of the angry woman. The only sound coming from the man was another sip.

* * *

≤ Beacon Academy: Cafeteria? ≥

* * *

Who would had thought that this brunette's first day at Beacon would turn out so horrible? A petite girl stood amongst the other trainees in the crowded cafeteria. The first years were not to be assigned rooms until their teams were selected. So the first day had them all bundled up on the floor until then. That wasn't the bad part of the entire situation in the least. What was bad was that this girl's perfectly new nightgown had instantly been ruined.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to be that clumsy!" The fox-eared Faunus held their hands together in silent prayer. Attempting to beg forgiveness as a red-headed male stood unimpressed. His arms were folded and he had an annoyed look plastered onto his face.

"That clumsy? So you meant to be a klutz on some form of level?" An instant grin appeared on the girl's face as she guiltily admitted.

"Just a little…" Oh now it was on, if the brunette wasn't mad before. Now she definitely was angry at the short girl. The brunette swiped at the faunus and grabbed them by the collar of her loose white shirt. There wasn't much to grab to begin with considering the fox was boldly wearing just an oversized shirt and underwear. Which wasn't all too bad if you looked around at everyone else in their own sleeping garments.

"You ruined a 100 Lien nightgown and you thinks this is funny?!"

"Why are you even wearing something that expensive?! All my clothing combined isn't even that expensive!" The black haired girl exclaimed, the ears on her head twitching in aggravation and surprise at such a price. Such a price was more surprising than being physically woman handled. Which wasn't new to begin with.

"Yeah, that's rather excessive." The red head rose a brow and spoke a loud. He knew clothing wasn't cheap, but he'd never dare pay 100 Lien for a single outfit. The brunette turned her glare at the red headed male and replied with a sort of vehement amount of toning.

"What are you even doing here?! This is the women's side of the cafeteria anyways!"

"This girl, Hena" The teen spoke up and pointed at the fox. Hena only gave a toothy grin while mumbling 'he remembered my name' as the red head narrowed his eyes. "decided to announce herself as my temporary sister then proceeded to steal my green apple lemonade." Emerald eyes would then turn towards the brunette. Or more focused at the green blotch that was on her brown nightgown. "Then she ran into someone who was obviously too busy on their scroll to watch where they were going." The fox let out a low snort, attempting to hide their bumbling laughter. She never expected for the guy to advert the blame.

"Woah woah woah! Don't you dare go and place that blame on me." Anger was this girl's spirit animal by now. Her attention from the Faunus was taken away as she let go of the fox's collar and turned to the tall male.

"Then you shouldn't play the blame game." A simple retort, but before the result was given, the gown from the brunette was tugged. Behind the girl stood a much taller Faunus. A rabbit-eared one to be exact. The girl looked to also be a brunette. Hena in response went on immediate toes as the girl repositioned herself behind the red head.

"Coco, you should probably wash off the gown before it stains too hard." Finally! Words of reason. Not that he actually tried to relieve the situation himself. This girl with her single colored brown theme was beyond antagonizing. Even her eyes were brown for Oum's sake! Even her name! The one now known as Coco looked ready to continue the argument, but the idea of cleaning her gown was more appealing it seemed. "Sorry about that, she's actually a really good person. Helped me with some, uh. Less than cooperative people earlier."

The red head looked away as any fuse he had died. He didn't much care for the whole hate for Faunus thing people have going on. Yet seeing it happen left a bad taste in his mouth. The brunette with much longer hair merely smiled at the red head and continued speaking. "My names Velvet by the way."

"Ceril," the red head sighed as his eyes looked back at the rabbit. Nice to meet you. This is…" When the red head turned to introduce Hena, she was already gone. That conniving little b-. Velvet let out a giggle as she looked towards the direction of the skimpering fox.

"Friend of yours?"

"No."

"Alright everyone! Light's out." A brawny grey haired man with a magnificent mustache spoke aloud. Ceril looked over at Velvet and shrugged. The girl kept her smile as the red head began to walk away. Giving a lazy wave of his own as he went back to the male side. If the rabbit said anything else, he didn't catch it. Though maybe he really should try going homeless. Finding a job with his knowledge and skill set should be that hard.

In another part of the room, Slovik hid in one of the many cabinets with a pillow and blanket. "Go to Beacon they said. She won't be able to follow you there they said." The black haired teen mumbled to himself as he repositioned for comfort. Seriously, who would had thought his fellow Faunas would graduate the primary academy in Atlas despite being one year bellow him originally. He'll give her credit where it's due though. The girl was a superb fighter despite her looks. Heaven forbid he be placed on a team with that fox, it'd be the death of him.

So the plan is to avoid Hena at all costs. With great luck he'll be separated from her for good and ushered off to another team. This was his last hope and he'd be damned if "found you!" Hena opened the cabinet and loudly whispered.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

≤ Beacon Outskirts: Emerald Forest ≥

* * *

Fourteen students stood in a line together for initiation. Each stood on a pedestal that doubled as a launching pad, but no student knew that yet. The headmaster himself was present with a green haired teacher which went by the name Profes-er Doctor Oobleck. "Greetings everyone and welcome to the Emerald Forest, here you will be dropped into the woods at random." This teacher spoke fast, really faster. Most of the students could barely keep up. "Upon being dropped the first person you lay eyes upon will be your partner for the next four years." Many trainees shouted in disapproval. Such a random system was completely unheard of. One of the students was specifically excited though.

"Oh my Oum! You hear that Slovik?! You hear that?! Four years!"

' _Four years… no no no no no! Like I'll let that happen!'_ Slovik internally panicked as Hena herself was on leaps and bounds of hype. A familiar looking Paul stared at the two with a smile on his face. While Ceril merely gazed on over towards the trainees that he may get partnered with. A lot of them didn't seem to his fancy, but he'd definitely prefer a calm partner at the least.

"After retrieving your partner, you are to make your way to the Temple Ruins just west of here and retrieve one marble piece scattered across the field. Then you are to return. Which that, fair well and good luck." As quickly as the man finished, all at once the students were launched and scattered across. Headmaster Ozpin merely sipped his coffee as he spoke up.

"Never gets old."

Well this situation definitely took a turn on the wild side. Not that Arcana was complaining about wild. Wild was fun after all. Biased wild, but wild none the less. The silver haired individual was wearing a fairly simple battle outfit. It consisted of a black vest with an open back. Their pants was white and mildly loose. There were black knee plates on the pants and a utility belt that had cartridge holders for dust shells. Which many would find weird considering Arcana held no weapon.

"Weird, they launched us north, while the ruins is a bit west. That's so out of the way." Arcana spoke aloud as their landing soon came close to the ground. Though instead of finding a way to break their fall, the girly looking teen merely shifted themselves so that they'd land on their feet. As their soles hit the ground, the floor began to crack and cave under the gained momentum and pressure of the fall. The short teen merely stood upright as his boots out from under the cracked ground and dusted the risen dirt off themselves. "Now to find a partner."

"I see you Slovik! Stay right there!" Hena in the sky shouted. The girl seemed to be hanging from a fairly large tower shield that was apparently aerodynamic enough to glide on. The fox actually wore fairly simple clothing. Going for a skin tight long sleeved black shirt with a pair of red shorts. It featured a round side pouch that looked almost out of place on the side.

"Not like this! I was so close!" Though as fate would have it, Slovik crashed into Arcana who immediately tumbled to the floor as Slovik fell on top. Their eyes immediately met as Hena came from behind and gasped.

"Woah Slovik… I didn't know you swung that way…"

"Shut up Hena!" Slovik got up as he pulled a peeved looking Arcana from the floor. The teen didn't seem to have impressive gear either. He had a pair of glasses on with both a black dress shirt and pants. The teen also had on a white overcoat with a katana strapped to his waist.

"Aw, Slovik! You bumbled up! We were supposed to be partners!" Hena silently wined as she saw that Arcana had taken claims to her long time bff.

"You can have him if you want." Arcana idly spoke. Slovik merely went wide eyed as he looked at the short teen that was going to throw him into the dirt

"No no it's okay. All is fair in love and wa-" Slovik broke the distance as he bopped her over the head.

"Stop it already!"

"Okay okay fine!" The fox whined as she rubbed her head.

* * *

≤ Elsewhere ≥

* * *

Ceril stood idly even a heavily wooded area. "Not the most graceful of landings, but it got the job done." His combat outfit was both disheveled and ragged. Baring a white dress shirt with a black metallic chest plate that only covered his torso. Above the sleeves to his shirt were his gauntlets that had thick chains strapped around the wrists. Those chains also linked loosely to the chains that were also wrapped and linked around his belt. His pants were as simple as his shirt, just black with white metal plating on the knees. Behind him were various amounts of trees that had been cut right through the middle and toppled completely over and under him was a large skid mark baring his rough landing.

"What the hell happened over here?" A feminine voice spoke out. The red head turned over to see a familiar looking man followed by a fairly short girl with purple hair."

"What do you know, it's Red!" It was that optimistic brunette who went by the name Paul. If his perfect memory was any good, this man also went to Sanctum as he did back in Mistral.

"Red? Seriously who names their kid red?" The person in question turned their narrowed gaze towards the red head. For a small girl, that one sure had a big attitude.

"Pfft, it's okay Remmy! It's just a nickname." Not that the man even knew Ceril's name to begin with.

"Stop calling me that! My name is Remlin!" The air suddenly shifted as mild sparks floated around the girl. Ceril had his arms folded as he stared at the two in a passive manner, but the electric current flowing around the girl slightly caught him off guard.

"That's a free-flowing elemental semblance. Aren't those classified as Hazard Four?" The anger left as quickly as it came. The girl bared a startled expression as her focus shifted towards the red head who had his head tilted in thought.

"It-it is! But it's certified and documented with Vales approval!" Not many people knew that semblances were marked in Hazard Levels. Children who have unlocked and discovered their semblances could sometimes not control them. "I have the papers in my locker as proof!" Paul had an absolutely confused look on his face as the girl seemed to be terrified beyond belief. Those with a semblance above the third are heavily subjugated, some even more so then Faunus.

"Okay, calm down." The red head raised his hand up and down. "I'm not going to dust you down. I was just curious. My own semblance is classified as Hazard Three and I'm literally not allowed anywhere near restricted documentation." It isn't too uncommon for those with High Hazard Levels to be ushered away and never be heard of again. Those are scenarios a lot of people wish to avoid.

Remlin looked absolutely nervous. The girl was usually able to play it off as a Hazard Three, but that was the first time anyone actually knew what was classified in which. "We-well then. I…" The girl was still in a panic if the loss of words said much about that. Ceril simply shook his head and walked up to the two. The purpled hair girl stuttering a step back.

"Come on, calm down. Even if you had an unauthorized semblance, I wouldn't report it. Paul here won't either, **right**?" Yup, that was more of a threat then a question. Paul merely rubbed the back of his head and gave a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah Remmy, we're partners now. I wouldn't throw you under the bus like that." A soft smile left the girls mouth, then disappeared quickly after.

"Well whatever! Let's find those relics!" As the purple haired girl turned, she fell over one of the many logs that lay on the ground. "Seriously?! Who cut these down?! They're not even cut clean! They're completely shredded! Why would a person do such a thing?!" Then just like that, she was a petite ball of anger again. Sparks crackling in the air as she continued to rant. She was a good person at least and Paul has enough decency to ignore the details about Hazard Level semblances. A team with these two wouldn't be bad at all.

* * *

≤ Elsewhere ≥

* * *

Everything went from bad to completely out of hand quickly. Slovik had just met his partner with his annoying tag along. Thank Monty he had dodged that bullet. Hena herself though had apparently spotted the ruins to the west. Yet one excited squeal later and a hoard of Beowolf Grimm appeared! That wasn't even the worst part. As they broke through the crowd of Grimm to make their escape, they were greeted by two men, Yatsuhashi and Fox. Two of which were being chased by a pack of Ursa.

"I always knew you would be the death of me Hena, I always knew it!" The group instinctively all went back to back as the hoard of Grimm approached closer. Hena took her large tower shield and split it in half, forming two smaller shields in each hand. Slovik drew his Katana as he prepared his stance. Yatsuhashi and Fox both already had their weapons drawn while Arcana merely stood there with an unimpressed look.

"It's okay Slovik! We can do anything if we do it together~" The black haired Faunus sang song, but before the Grimm could get any closer, the whirling of machinery could be heard. Not even a second later, a line of Grimm were blasted away as Coco stepped out of the fern with what appeared to be a Gatling gun bigger than her entire body. The flank was instantly obliterated within seconds.

"Scatter!" Someone in the circle shouted, making everyone split up to engage part of the crowd while the Gatling gave cover fire. Yatsuhashi gave a powerful swing of his sword and cut apart two Ursa with the shockwave alone. Slovik did a dashing cut through his own batch of Beowolf as he slid right next to the tallest man in the group.

"What the hell man? Why were you even running in the first place if you could do that?"

"The Ursa wasn't what we were running from." The man gave a straightforward reply. Not even a moment later, a loud roar came from the direction the two original came from. A rather large Ursa dove into sight from the wooded area. It stood massively tall and one could wonder how that thing even snuck up on there in the first place.

"Oh oh! I call dibs!" The Fox Faunus excitedly shouted as she broke from a group of Beowolf she was fighting and directly at the giant Ursa.

"Don't little fox, it's tougher than it looks!" The Ursa raised its paw and swiped down faster than most had expected it to. Catching quite a few people off guard, but Hena merely jumped up in a forward motion to avoid the attack. The paw hit the ground and instantly cracked the ground under. The effects causing a mild quake in a show of power.

"Ha ha! Missed me!" The fox landed her jump onto the arm of the Grimm and began to run up. The girl then pulled out a giant stake from her pouch and then slammed it into one of the eyes of the bear-like beast before it had a chance to respond. Hena made her escape by kicking off it's face and landing quite a distance away.

"Finally, do you even know the concept of friendly fire?!" Coco came up from behind as she began to blaze her rounds at the Grimm. Most of the bullets were ricocheted off of the bone plates that covered it's body, but some did manage to pierce through. Causing the giant Ursa to slowly fall back.

"But boom!" Hena shouted excitedly as she waved her two shields up in the air.

"Boom?" Coco questioned over the loud sound of twenty millimeter rounds going off. Though her question was answered just as quickly. The stake in the Grimm's eye made a clicking sound and exploded. Leaving a headless Grimm to collapse and begin to dissipate on the floor. "Oh booms are definitely nice." The brunette looked on over at the other four. Fox was standing over his own pile of disintegrating Grimm as if no effort was given. Yatsuhashi and Slovik were sheathing their weapons with an exasperated sigh. That fox girl would definitely be the death of them.

"Booms are so nice!" Hena looked around excitedly and noticed that there wasn't anyone else paired up. "So does that make us partners?" Coco smirked and pat the girl on the head.

"Sorry kiddo, already have one. We split up after hearing two different babies scream for help." The shot obviously directed at Slovik in the sense that she looked on over to him. Hena merely snickered as Slovik himself was looking around in a confused manner.

"Has anyone seen Arcana?" Now that the situation was calmed down. The lack of a silver haired individual was definitely more noticeable for the group. "He was here just a second ago."

* * *

≤ Emerald Forest: Temple Ruins ≥

* * *

This must have been the single most stupid thing Arcana himself has ever done. The female-looking teen was hidden behind a stone pillar. Keeping an eye out while trying not to get spotted. Back with the group, Arcana had seen the nest of a Major Nevermore while he was in hand to hand combat with the Beowolfs. Nevermore were known to keep to their territory. More specifically their nest, but Arcana had never encountered one before. So he had the brightest of ideas to immediately jump onto the tree and onto the Nevermore. Which then proceeded to fly the hell away. This wasn't even the worst part of it all.

Chains suddenly snaked around the pillar and attempted to slam into Arcana. The short teen immediately tumbled out of the way and began to run for cover. The chains cracked into the stone as it easily shattered it. Arcana went to break more distance, but another pair coiled in at a stupidly odd angle and wrapped around his waist. With a rough pull, the silverette was yanked into the air and slammed onto the temple walls.

"So are you going to start talking?" Ceril took short strides towards Arcana who was groaning on the floor. Four chains hung from his person. One on each gauntlet and two on each side of his waist. This was the worst part. Normally Arcana could just take people out and end them, but this red head was quite… persuasive with his questioning. Arcana went to grab the chain, but it recoiled away and retreated back towards Ceril who merely yanked his arm away to gain such a response.

"And like I told you, you're not my fucking mom. I don't answer to you." Arcana got off the floor as their golden eyes glared daggers onto the red head. His eyes which were once emerald in color was now a cerulean blue.

"Wrong answer." Ceril dashed roughly forward towards Arcana as the person in question retreated by jumping back. _'This guy's fighting style was so bull crap!'_ The feminine teen mentally shouted as the red head came to hard stop. The chains dragging behind him would then continue rushing forward. Ceril shifted his body and twirled his arm. One chain came from the horizontal side and another from the diagonal. Arcana ducked then side stepped as he avoided two of the chains. Not having a break, he dashed forward but broke charge to dodge again as a third chain struck in the position he was just in.

Arcana was seething in anger. Up and front fights was his specialty, but this red headed douche had him be the ropes. Or chains to be more specific. He wasn't even hurt much by the attacks of the chains, but one got sore after so many hits broke through. Sometimes they didn't even move in regular motions. They would suddenly just break rhythm and strike at odd and vulnerable angles.

"So are you going to tell me what you did to that Grimm?" Yes, what he did to that Grimm. This red head saw him do that. Originally he was planning to just up and kill him, but that idea was thrown out the window.

* * *

 _ **Ceril stood in front of the bridge of the Temple Ruins. After a mild engagement with a pack of Beowolf, the teen had found himself separated from Paul and Remlin. The two probably headed towards the sound of the screaming individuals not too far, but he himself decided to just head for the ruins. Though as he got there, he was met with the sight of a silver haired girl with golden eyes. Or at least what he thinks to be female. It was hard to tell as they stood above a fallen Nevermore that was crashed into the concrete bridge. Ceril walked forward as he watched the small male raise his fist. It seemed that he was about to finish the Nevermore with his fist, but the next moment caught the teen off guard.**_

 _ **Three long white bones protruded from his wrist and were stabbed into the Grimm. The Nevermore cringed then dropped, but instead of dissipating it began to get absorbed into the white bones. Draining the bird completely until the bones were black.**_

" _ **What was that?" Arcana was in the middle of retracting their bones when a certain red head startled them from behind. The tall teen had his head tilted in thought while Arcana was baffled at the fact they didn't even hear them come this close. After snapping from the startled state, Arcana rushed in at ground breaking speed and cocked a fist back to slam into Ceril. The red head stepped forward into the other's guard and delivered an instant palm strike into the feminine boy's stomach. The momentum from the previous dash helping with nothing but knocking the air out his lungs.**_

 _ **Arcana's feet lifted off the floor as they were shot back and bounced off the ground as they hit hard. His quizzical look turned stern as he began unlatch the chains from his gauntlets. The chains began to pour down and down and down. An unbelievable length of linked metal dropped. There was no way all of that was wrapped around his gloves. No way. "So are you going to tell me what that was?"**_

" _ **What are you, my mom?**_

* * *

The engagement since then hadn't been pretty. At first Arcana thought he'd be using the chains like whips. But no! This asshole was somehow using it like stupid snakes! The rotated, the turned, the lashed and coiled. Every time Arcana even tried to attempt to grab the chain, they'd literally just move in an irregular way and avoid his grasp.

"Fine then, I'll get serious." Arcana's sclera began darken black as his once golden eyes started to glow red. Two large bones extended from the opening from the back of his outfit. Ceril raised a brow as the bones began to ooze black gunk until the ooze took the shape of Nevermore wings. The feminine teen flapped their new wings and took off into the sky.

"Well that's unique." Ceril stood there as he watched the flying individual. Arcana's wings on his back suddenly flapped as spikes of bones were launched at the red head. The teen merely shifted as his chains as they once again lashed out and deflected all the projectiles. "That's really unique…" In the next moment, Arcana took a dove down and tried to tackle Ceril look a diving eagle.

Ceril jump back as the move left a crater of debris and dust on the stone bridge the two were on. He prepared for another strike, but Arcana rushed out of the dust. Their arm was covered in white bone that oozed a black substance. Which in then formed into an Ursa's arm. Arcana took a downward swipe that Ceril sidestepped. The attack breaking the ground and causing the bridge to slightly shift and crack. Arcana's other arm had apparently gone through the same transformation which caused the red head to disengage as he had to now dodge swipe after swipe. "Just! Die! Already!" The silverette was baffled at this. They never personally fought a Hunter before, but someone his own age was never able fight him on terms like this. It completely startled him to no ends. If this is how a trainee fought. What would they ever do if a full-fledge Hunter engaged them?

Ceril would then spin. The chains around him twirling around like a torrent of wind. The silverette guarded with their Ursa arms, but the constant barrage of whipping chains was slowly pushing them back. Arcana prepared themselves to push past the chains, but just as the thought came to mind, the barrage stopped. Arcana lowered their arms a bit just in time to see Ceril grasping onto all four chains and slashing down into a vertical motion. The smaller teen was about to dodge, but it was already too late as the already added speed and momentum from the spin all crashed on top of the defending individual.

The pressure dropped them to the floor and left a long line of cracks as the bridge shook once more. Arcana's Grimm-like appendages began to turn back to ooze as it drained back into the bones and retreated back into their bodies. Sclera black and red reverted back to white and gold as the feminine boy could only let out a groan.

Well this was it. Out of all the ways to go, this was not the way Arcana thought it would go. Ceril walked on over as the chains suddenly reeled in like a fishing rod. Wrapping back around his gauntlets and waist. The teen squatted as he stared closely at his golden eyes with his own blue. One blink later and they were then back to emerald green.

"I'll be honest… I'm at a loss for words." His gaze shifted in the direction they came from. It was quite a ways from where they started the fight. "You absorbed that Grimm. You can use the parts of Grimm that you absorb." Arcana flinched, he was definitely spot on. Ceril would then frown sadly as he shifted a pitied gaze at the grounded person. "It must be hard. To have a Semblance like that."

"Wh-what?" Arcana's eyes widened immediately. They would have shifted uncomfortably too, but found it quite hard to move after being knocked down so hard.

"Living your life with the thought that if anyone found out. They would immediately kill you like the rest of the Grimm in this world." Ceril rose his palm and placed it on top of the other's head. Wide golden eyes stared back at a calm emerald. "I understand, your secret is safe with me."

"How dare you patronize me!" Then just like that, the moment was gone. Arcana immediately gave a vicious chomp onto Ceril's hand. The action made the teen raise his brow as the silver-haired boy gnawed at his hands. Making some fairly low growling noises.

"I didn't mean that in a condescendingly." Arcana was lifted off the floor as the red head raised his arm to draw back from the silverette's bite. The growling boy did not relent as he was slowly lifted off the floor and hung loosely from the red head's hand. "Woah, those are some strong teeth." Ceril didn't much care for being bit, his aura alone was enough to mitigate bothy the pain and the damage that would normally be done.

"mmmiiiIIIINNN **NEEEEE!** " A shout was heard from the distance that had been coming increasingly closer. Ceril was then tackled in the back as he attempted to turn around to see who was screaming. Though the tackling individual lost no momentum as their arms wrapped around the red head's waist and their body began to circle around as they kept latched on. As the person rotated around, they collided into the hanging Arcana which completely knocked him out of their bite.

"Hello again. Hena. Here to steal. More of my. Belongings?" After identifying the fox who had tackled him, the girl kept circling around like a hula-hoop until the momentum died. She came to a mild skidding stop as they were now in front of the red head. Arms grasped tightly around his waist and chin rested against his lower chest. The girl's eyes sparkled in an almost worried manner.

"Please tell me you don't have a partner! I tried to match with Slovik, but he was already taken! Then I found two others that were taken! Then I found Coco! Which was taken! Then I found Paul and Remmy! WHO WERE TAKEN!" Her look turned panic as she pleaded to the Monty that she'd finally get one.

"Uh… I don-" His sentence wasn't even finished as the girl let out a high pitch squeal and proceeded to climb onto his shoulders.

"Slovik! I found my partner!" Ceril turned in the direction the girl shouted in to see quite a large group. Coco and Velvet. A man in green scale armor with another holding fin bladed wrist bands. One could only guess Slovik as he just stared with an irritated expression plated on his face. Remlin keeping to herself in the back with Paul holding onto two twins. Both with short black hair and matching battle outfits. Except one was a pair of pants and the other was a skirt.

"Now if only I could find my part-" Then to his surprise, he noticed Arcana practically knocked out on the floor. A glance was given to Ceril who had Hena laying her chin on the top of his head. Looking at Arcana, the teen would shrug and retract his gaze to the left.

"Hena accidentally drop kicked her in that dive." The defendant rose his hands up as if to surrender. Whilst he spoke, one of the nearby pillars collapsed and dropped down to the pits bellow. Everyone had looked at the pillar that seemingly looked like it took a sharp blow to the side then back at Ceril. The teen only kept a calm expression. "Man this place is old."

"It- just…" He looked up at Hena who had one of those puppy looking guilty faces. Yeah that was definitely the look of guilty. Ceril had successfully passed on the blame. "You know what. I don't care and my partner's apparently a guy despite how he looks."

"Oh well, okay." Ceril didn't much care for the gender of the psychopath that had attempted his life not even minutes ago. Coco strutted up as she looked down at the stone bridge they were on.

"Man what caused this split in the bridge?" Like clockwork, the bridge would then crack and half the side would immediately collapse. The group being aware enough to step to the good side of the bridge as a good portion of it just fell down.

"You know what." Remlin began to speak. Everyone in the group turned to the girl as it was the first time she was putting in any form of input for them. She returned everyone's curious gaze with a sneer as she continued speaking. "Let's just. Get the relics."

No disagreements were given as everyone silently crossed the bridge and entered the Temple itself. Inside the circular building were six pedestals. Remlin stride past everyone as she grabbed one of the six dice that were this year's relics. Theirs in particular had a picture with a cat on it. Paul following shortly behind.

Coco and Velvet followed suite as she went and grabbed a die with the picture of roaring ocean waves. Ceril still had Hena on his head as he also went up and grabbed a die with the picture of the moon on it. Fox and Yatsuhashi grabbed the die with the picture of volcanic lavas. Slovik who was carrying the knocked out Arcana grabbed a die with the picture of the sun. Leaving the last die that was a dog given to the two knocked out twins; courtesy of Paul.

Their scrolls would immediately rang as each team grabbed their respective dice. Without even taking the chance to answer, the loud voice of the headmaster could be heard from every device.

『 Congratulations on your victory. You have passed Initiation. Please safely return to the school grounds and your team will be announced. 』

* * *

 **AN: A few words before I bid everyone farewell and wishing myself good luck! It's been years since I've attempted to write a fanfic, heck the last time I even published something was years ago. I literally don't delete it purely cause I find a mild meaning in it. Well anyways, as many of you can guess by now.. The events of the current cast I have shown takes place one year before the actual events of RWBY. I did this mainly because I feel it'll give me enough chances to flesh out the current OC and the lesser published team that is in the show.**

 **On a side note, I have a blaring weakness for character/object description and can be pretty vague with what I'm writing about sometimes. So in essence, I'm currently looking for a Beta Reader who can fill those roles since I'm kind of crap at them.**

 **Now I'll prepare my heart to be destroyed by all the criticism that may or may not come. Tata!**


	2. Trouble in Paradise

Disclaimer: Ownership of RWBY belongs to that of Month and Rooster Teeth

' _Thoughts'_

 _ **Flash Backs**_

『 Telecom 』

 **AN: Welcome back to those who decided to read my story! Please tell me if you like or don't like and why! It'd help me greatly.**

* * *

≤ Beacon: Auditorium ≥

* * *

Sixteen students stood at attention near the edge of the Auditorium. Headmaster Ozpin was at the center of the stage. Dual screens booted up as he began to call in the partners that had passed initiation together.

"Fox Alistair, Yatsuhashi Daichi, Coco Adel and Velvet Scarlatina. The four of you retrieved the Temperature Pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CFVY (Coffee). Lead by Coco Adel." As the Headmaster spoke the names aloud, each student respectively came up and bowed after introduction of their team. After those introductions four left the stage and the next pair started to come up as they were called.

"Slovik Nannings, Arcana of Vacuo, Hena Nannings and Ceril Murk. The four of you retrieved the Celestial Pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CASH. Lead by Ceril Murk." Each person respectfully bowed. Even Hena keeping a calm and collected demeanor to the team's surprise. Really it was. The next batch of students were called in as the four left the stage

Ceril looked over to the girl who suddenly broke into fits of giggles. "I'm honestly surprised you didn't burst out on the stadium. Call me impressed." Hena just turned away and giggled more. Giving off a passive wave in response.

"Oh stop it you." The girl spoke in embarrassment as the next team were called up.

"Oswald Gem, Olga Gem, Paul Wayland and Remlin Cale. The four of you retrieved the Animal Pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team PORO. Lead by Paul Wayland." Another round of applause was given at the auditorium as they walked off the stage and towards team CASH.

Paul let out an exasperated sigh as he walked over to the red head. "Holy crap man, I seriously thought they were going to name us Team POOR after I heard your team name." Ceril just laughed as the next team passed them by to get placed in.

"I thought the same thing." The teen just smirked as he folded his arms. Hena was literally bouncing on her feet in excitement.

"It'd of been better if you were Team POOR! We'd of been like rivals. The Cash versus the Poor. What will win? The unlimited amount of wealth or the humble amount of poverty." Hena got into a pose in front of Ceril as she went in as if she was ready to defend the team with her life. Granting chuckles from most the two teams.

Paul tilted his head as he looked over towards Ceril with a questioning look. "You're definitely a lot more open than you were on the Airbus." The red head merely gave a shrug as he pulled Hena back from her shoddy combat stance.

"Yeah, I wasn't really in the best of moods during that time."

"-you will work together as Team CALZ (Calzone), lead by Clairis Taylor." The room suddenly burst in laughter as the final team got named after a dough folded pizza. The red head looked on over towards the leader who had a somewhat mortified look and smirked.

"Well looks like you guys got the better end of the stick." As he spoke out, the leader shifted her gaze over to his and glared at him. He immediately broke the gaze and looked back at Paul who just gave a passive wave.

"Hey, Calzones are delicious."

Slovik waggled his brows as he finally decided to jump into the conversation. "Are you implying something?" In the next moment, Remlin had snuck up on everyone and kicked the husky-type Faunus in the shin. Everyone just stared at Slovik, majority of them not even getting the joke to begin with.

The blue haired girl folded her arms and huffed as she looked away. "That was a bad joke and you should feel bad." After so, everyone else started laughing as Slovik just looked down in a dejected manner. How could this girl get everyone to laugh when she didn't even crack a joke? It made absolutely no sense!

* * *

≤ Beacon: Dormitory ≥

* * *

Slovik was lying on his proclaimed bed in the mostly empty room. The four had decided to leave decorating for the next day and call it a night. Yet the night wasn't over and the tall black haired male couldn't get any rest due to the loud screeching sound of a bed being pushed across the room. He didn't look, he refused to look. He looked to see that Hena had pushed her bed literally right next to the poor soul who had gotten that girl as a partner. May Monty find peace for him.

Ceril sat quietly on his bed, which was on the corner furthest away from both the window and the door. His back lay against the corner as blue glowing eyes skimmed through the student handbook his sister had personally written for him. Hena hopped on her bed after she combined the two beds into one and choose to stare at the red head. The proximity of the two not even a foot away.

"Hena… Why did you put our beds together…?" Ceril finally gave in and asked. When he saw her move the bed, he was kind of hoping she was just being a unique little snowflake who wanted to put their bed in the middle of the room. Yet this was mildly absurd.

Hena puffed her barely-existing chest up and spoke proudly. "Because we're partners, that's why!" The conviction in her eyes pretty much saying anything else that needed to be said.

Ceril nodded at the girl as he went back to reading the student handbook. "Fair enough."

No use in arguing against someone as eccentric as that. They'll literally throw every excuse under the bus until you've forced them to stop. "You shouldn't let her do whatever she wants." Slovik pitched in some sagely and well-earned advice. Obviously being the pro at dealing with the fox Faunus. "She'll get too comfortable and start invading your personal space."

"Comfortable is fine," The teen shifted a page in the tome. "plus if there's one thing my sister taught me. There's no such thing as personal space."

"Or privacy it seems. " The final member of the team sneered out in distain towards his comment. Arcana's bed was directly on the other side of the room from Ceril.

"Yeah, definitely no privacy." The teen shivered as he began to recall one of his horrid memories. "She once barged in on me while I was taking a shower. Then dragged me out and through the house just to show me her uniform for Beacon." His mother had all her friends over too. Who could not stop giggling and gushing over his childish demeanor at the time. He hid for a week.

"Beacon Uniform? Is she a trainee here?!" Hena shouted in excitement as the girl raised both her arms. Having a senior to help would just be awesome in her eyes.

"Worse…" Ceril murmured as he put the tome down and looked at the three." She's a teacher."

Slovik raised a brow as he sat up from his bed. This was definitely news. Not uncommon, but still unheard of "Seriously, a teacher? What does she teach?" Slovik quickly questioned.

"Battle Simulation for the second and third year trainees." Ceril picked his tome back up and began to read through the pages. ' _How to be a good team leader. (If you're somehow not the team leader, Ceril… Change to the next chapter)_ ' Ceril would then change the page and read the next chapter. ' _How to end your team leader and take their position._ ' The tome was quickly closed and dropped. His glowing blue eyes shifting back to their Emerald Green.

"Huh, what type of classes are those?" Surprisingly it was Arcana who asked out of pure curiosity.

"It's a class where you fight against semi-holographic Grimm and pre-installed Hunters. It's actually pretty dangerous and could get Hunter-Trainees hurt. So they moved it up to the more experienced ones." This time it was Slovik who answered, obviously knowing what the class entails.

Hena tilted her head as she spoke up. "What about the fourth years? Do they not have to take the class?"

"By the fourth year, you'll be focusing on missions to get the minimum requirement to graduate the year." Ceril spoke up to everyone. At least in this factor, everyone knew the graduation requirements. The requirement to graduate the first year of Beacon was to accumulate one-hundred points through classes and missions when they're available. Classes were only given points upon successful completion with an acceptable grade. The grade itself didn't matter, as long as it was passing. The increments increased by year and the points were harder to obtain as less classes were given and more missions were required to be taken just to have enough to graduate the next year.

"If you fail to pass the next year, you'll be bumped down one year. If you fail that one, you'll be expelled from Beacon." Slovik quietly murmured.

Ceril would then loudly clap his hands as he spoke up. "Anyways! Team introductions in team order, hold nothing back. As goes… I'm Ceril Murk from Mistral. Graduated from Sanctum Academy. Next"

All gazes fell on Arcana, whose name was next on the list. "Arcana. Disowned, no last name. From Vacuo." Slovik raised a brow, clearly remembering that he came with them on an Airbus from Atlas. "There was a recruitment for talent going on and I decided to try out. If I passed, I'd get free room and board. Along with schooling, so I bit. Non-graduate."

Ceril hummed aloud in mild interest, causing the silverette to glare at him. There was a story there, Slovik can see it, but decided to remain quiet. "Well I'm next. I'm Slovik Nannings. From Nannings Orphanage. I graduated from APA, Atlas Primary Academy."

"Hena Nannings! From Nannings Orphanage. I graduated APA a year early just to get in Beacon with Slovik. I almost didn't make it, but anything is possible with enough effort!" Slovik hit his head against the wall as he mumbled outloud. ' _Almost_ '

Ceril gave a nod to his current team and spoke up. "I have a defensive fighting style. My weapon of choice are chains that I named Nebula. My semblance is Perfect Memory." He kept it short and simple. Though Arcana just clicked his tongue as he spoke up.

"Might as well have been fucking snakes… I have an offensive fighting style. My weapon of choice is my semblance." Everyone stared in mild interest, except Ceril. Who just gave that stupid smirk that Arcana would love nothing more than to punch off his face. "I can create a dense white material in the shape of spikes. I also have an abnormally high amount of strength and endurance." As Arcana spoke, his golden eyes never left the red head.

"Well then…" Slovik tried to cut the tension in the air, it was that thick. "I switch between offensive and ranged fighting styles. My weapon of choice is my Katana that can turn into a shortbow. Or even a greatbow if I combine it with the sheath. I call my weapon... Bowgnir. The Bow that never misses." The room suddenly got extremely quiet. The jokes weren't even bad, they just outright weren't funny. Or could even be considered jokes. Ceril's eye slightly twitched. Who even mocks the name of their personal weapon like that? Wait… no, maybe he's serious about that being it's name. Slovik look dejected at the fact no one laughed yet again. Hena scooched on over and whispered to the red head.

' _He's always told bad jokes, no one has ever laughed. No one._ '

"Ugh… tough crowd. My semblance is Eagle Eye. It allows me to change my perspective to a different location."

Slovik had folded his arms and looked away. The fun in everything now being spoilt. He'll get someone to laugh one day. "That's actually pretty impressive if it works the way I think it does." Ceril spoke up as he thought of the implications of being able to change the position of what you see to any location to gain a different view. The guy may even be able to look around corners without actually looking. Though his thoughts were cut short as Hena immediately shifted in front of Ceril.

"I have an offensive fighting style!" She got closer. "My weapon of choice are two shields that can combine to make a bigger one! They have cartridges that can be adjusted to shoot at any selected angle. The fox was now head to head with them as their foreheads touched. "I named the left Refuse! The right one is named Deny!"

The girl slightly panted as everything was spoken all at once. "Hena are you ok-" the girl didn't give him the chance to finish as she cut her breath.

"My semblance is Hyper Regeneration! I can instantly heal moderate wounds and lethal ones in minutes!" Ceril just stared from emerald eyes to glazing red. Not daring to say a word with how close he was. Not once has he seen such a reaction and couldn't even guess how to respond. After a few moments of silence she whispered in almost desperation. "praise me too."

Ceril shifted his gaze over towards Slovik, or at least what he could see from the two's close proximity. Slovik was in the back frantically waving his arms back in forth. Trying to tell him to absolutely not praise the girl. He'd then shift his eyes over to Arcana who looked to be a bit annoyed. Well if Slovik seemed that out of it when it came to Hena, he should obviously follow his advice and dodge the praise.

"You're an offensive fighter with two shields? That's actually a really interesting concept. I'd like to see it for myself later." Ceril gave a mild praise as red eyes began to sparkle like the rising sun. There wasn't any squeaks or squeals like he expected, just a calm genuine smile. At the proximity of just a few inches. Hena leaned back and giggled after a moment. Then proceeded to lay her head on his lap.

"Well, she's your problem now. Complimented that girl only once and she never let go. Followed me all the way from Atlas to here." Slovik just shrugged his shoulders like it was a lost cause.

Ceril pat the girl on her head as she let out of a soft hum. "That's fine, she's my partner after all. Can I trust you to look after Arcana?" The red head looked up at Slovik who only rose a brow. It was Arcana who spoke up before he did.

"Hey! I don't anyone to look after me!" Such an angry person he was.

Slovik just waved his hand in a shooing many. "Yeah yeah, he's my partner after all." If looks could kill, Arcana would be stabbing their guts out right now. Everyone just broke out in laughter.

"What?!" Everyone just kept laughing. "What is it?!" No one would dare tell Arcana that his feminine-looking angry face was just adorable.

Ceril calmed himself as he looked down at Hena. Who of which also started to calm down and begun to doze off. The girl was a ball of sunshine and rainbows all the time, but after seeing such a genuine smile. It was hard not to notice that all her others were fake. Fake and sad… He pushed her off his lap with enough force to roll her back on her side of the bed. "Cerillllll~~!" She shot up and looked as if he had taken the Nacho chip that had forty percent of the cheese stuck to it. Slovik burst out laughing and even Arcana couldn't help but chuckle. Ceril only gave a huffing smile.

' _Maybe everything won't be so bad after all._ '

* * *

≤ Beacon: Dormitory – Next Morning ≥

* * *

『 Ring Ring Ring 』Muffled groans escaped the lips of four individuals. 『 Ring Ring Ring 』"Ugh… someone turn off that alarm." A short blue haired girl spoke as she curled up more into a ball.

『 Ring Ring Ring 』Paul groaned as he shuffled up and opened his eyes. The small amount of light from the room mildly keeping his vision sundered. "What time is it?" 『 Ring Ring Ring 』

Olga who shared the same bed with her twin groggily reached for her scroll to look at the time. "Mmff. Eleven in the morning." The girl dropped her scroll as she started to doze off again.

『 Ring Ring Ring 』…『 Ring Ring Ring 』…『 Ring Ring Ring 』 …

"WHAT?" Suddenly they all shouted at the same time. Oswald fell off the bed as Olga shot up. Remlin attempted to jump off the bed, but the sheets were wrapped around her in odd angles and the girl merely fell over onto the floor. Struggling to get up. Paul was the first to successfully get up. 『 Ring Ring Ring 』…

"Holy Oum! We're so late! It's almost lunch time." The tallest of the group started gathering all the school supplies as he panicked. "Olga, Remlin! You guys shower first! I'll get our school supplies ready! Oswald, get our uniforms ready!" No complaints were given as Remlin relinquished herself from the sheets with Olga already in the bathroom.

"We are so late, we are sucking freaking late!" Oswald shouted as he gathered his sisters and Remlin's clothes. The look-a-like rushed to the bathroom to bring them their clothes. The door swiftly open as the male-counterpart was suddenly dragged in with the two girls.

"No time! We're already late!" The other shouted as the poor teen was dragged into the bathroom.

Oswald shrieked in surprise as he was dragged into the bathroom with his two female companions. "Wait, isn't this inappropriate?!"

"You two share your senses! Does it even matter?!" It was Remlin who shouted as the door came to a close. Paul was tearing through all their belongings as he got the first three period tomes ready. Even if the first two were practically already over. "Hey no pushing!" An angry Remlin shouted as a sound of sparks flew.

"Hey! Be careful!" Both the twins shouted in union.

 **Knock Knock Knock** The room suddenly went silent. This was it, wasn't it? The teachers had finally decided to show up to expel them. **Knock Knock Knock** A muffled whimper could be heard from the bathroom through the running water. Paul stood in fear to even open the door. **Knock Knock Knock** Taking a shuttered breath, Paul went to the door and opened it. Only to see a dead-tired looking Ceril. Only in a pair of pants that looked to be just be put on seconds ago.

"Hey Paul, it's great that you guys are morning people and decided to wake up at six in the Oum damn morning." A muffled yawn came from behind Ceril. Across the room was Hena at the door, only adorning a shirt and underwear like on the first night. Right through the door, Slovik can be seen dead asleep.

Now that Paul had calmed down, he could see that the sun was just barely rising outside. Definitely not at the position eleven in the morning would be at. Three eyes were peeking out of the bathroom in complete silence.

『 Ring Ring Ring 』

"Sorry Ceril, we'll be a bit quieter." A nod was given as the red head turned around and went back to his room. Not even a second later, he could hear the two hit the bed hard from their side of the dorm. Paul closed his door and turned around to see Olga had come out in a towel. Looking down at her scroll with beady eyes. "It's eleven. Back in Atlas."

* * *

≤ Beacon: Cafeteria ≥

* * *

Remlin and Hena stood at the counter staring at the last biscuit the cafeteria had to offer. Neither flinched nor moved, afraid that if either went. The other would immediately go for the grab. The seconds counted down as each steeled their resolve. Ready to see who would grab the last pastry.

"Oh cool, last biscuit." A girl with short grey hair reached over the smaller girls and grabbed the biscuit. Both girls looked up only to be greeted by two bouncing mounds. The two girls glared at the natural enemy of the itty bitty committee. Why would such a round person even need a biscuit, don't they have enough?!

"Ashton let's go already!" A very short looking girl with strawberry red hair called out from literally under the crowd. She was short, even shorter than Hena who stood at a four foot ten.

"Coming Clairis~" Ashton had a dozing expression on her glazed yellow eyes. Her head slowly turned on over to the other girl shouting as she fumbled on over without even looking at the two she had just snagged a biscuit from.

Hena glared daggers as the **BIMBO** walked off. Trying to enact some silent karma of injustice on her. "She is the enemy." The silver-eared fox lightly growled.

"That we can agree on." Remlin mumbled, only being half a foot taller and sporting a cup that was just below 'b'.

"Hey you two, come to the table already!" Paul shouted as he waved his arm above the crowd. The man himself was probably the tallest in their group. Just a few inches off from the teachers even. The two let out a dejected sigh as they began to walk on on.

"MORE BISCUITS!" The lunch lady called out as she dropped another plate on the counter. The two immediately turned around, but the other students were already prowled against the counter going for grabs. By the time the crowd dispersed. There were no biscuits.

"WHAT IS LIFE?" Hena shouted with her plate food in her hands.

Ceril sat across from Paul as he cut into his pancakes with his utensils. "I'm serious man, my sister literally just. Forged my transcripts and just accepted me into Beacon? Can you believe that?!" Oswald and Paul just laughed as he retold his tale on how he got here. "My parents were just all like. 'Oh Ceril, we're so proud of you! Make us even more proud!' and KICKED me into the bus." Olga who had her nose in the first period tome just snorted.

"I guess your parents really know how throw a party!" Slovik decided to chip in. Only crickets giving him a reply to his comment. After a few seconds later, someone stood up from the crowd and shouted.

"Your jokes are bad, and you should feel bad!"

"Thank you!" Remlin shouted as her and Hena joined the table. Hena cutting in between Ceril and Slovik. Remlin went to her side that had Paul and Olga. Growling and munching can be heard from above the chatter. Each person looked towards Arcana. They had three plates of food and they were literally stuffing their faces as he held the form in a childish way. The feminine boy felt the presence and turned to everyone. Letting out a long growling hiss as they defended their food and repositioned themselves so his back faced the group.

Everyone's gaze slowly left the feasting beast as they all stared at each other. "So, it's uh. Professor Port's class that's coming up?" Paul had been the first to break the silence amongst the group.

"Yeah, Grimm Studies. Should be an interesting learning more than just the four basic Grimm." Ceril spoke aloud as he finished up his pancakes.

"I'm only really aware of three. Beowolf, Ursa and Nevermores." Remlin tilted her head as she attempted to think of any other.

Arcana muffled out through their food. "Deathstalkers are more common in the deserts of Vacuo. Not that they don't manifest elsewhere." He added in after a short pause from his first sentence. The plates he had gathered were all empty. The silverette sporting a huge smile. All eyes turned back towards him and blankly stared. That was a lot of food he just ate. Arcana just blushed and muffled out. "Vacuo is a harsh place, a lot of poor people."

At that point, the group just gave an understanding nod. If you were always hungry and starving before this point. It'd make sense to finally get your fill. It's not like any of them had lunch or dinner the day before. Not many of the trainees even passed their initiation. Hundreds had come, yet only sixteen had passed. There were two in both CASH and PORO's initiation that had apparently failed.

"I actually have around thirteen Grimm personally documented in my studies." The token ginger of the group spoke up as he began to down his orange juice. The entire group changed their view to the emerald eyed teen. Even Arcana had fairly piqued interest. "The aforementioned Grimm are all Minor Grade Grimm along with the Creep. As the Grade of Grimm increases, so do the consistency of plated bones and black fur." Ceril looked up from his cup as he realized he apparently had everyone's attention.

"Minor Grade? Are there different frequencies like Hazards?" It was Remlin who had sheepishly asked. Seemingly unsure if they should had even brought the topic up to begin with.

Ceril just gave a knowing nod. "Minor and major classified between the Grimm who appear in different sizes despite looking to be from the same type. Then you have your pack leaders that have the uncanny ability to control other Grimm. These are referred to as Alphas. If the Grimm is bigger than Major, they're referred to as King or Queen. The latter of the two being the bigger."

"Can Minor Grimm be Alphas?" It was Paul who asked as he finished up his breakfast.

"Most definitely." Ceril spoke up as he pulled out one of his scroll. The teen then grabbed the edges and pulled it apart as the screen slowly got pulled into a seven inch tablet. The red head flicked through the tabs until he happened upon a Grimm which had around body with a giant eye taking up its total mass. The creature had black bat wings with spiked bones sticking out of its spine. "This is a Pip Grimm. Very rare… very dangerous. Some will argue they don't exist, but I've seen it."

The way he spoke the last sentence was very ominous. Sending shutters throughout the group as they looked at the creature captured from his scroll. It was weird that he would say that they don't exist, when the teen obviously has a picture of said Grimm. Ceril's eyes narrowed as he put down his scroll.

"This Grimm in particular sends out infrared wavelengths that can control other Grimm. Down from Minor to Queen, and even Alphas. The only plus side is that the wavelength is short. So it needs to be nearby." The teen finished his explanation as he flicked through the scroll.

Arcana looked over at the teen whose eyes seemed to glare down at his phone. Normally the feminine boy would treat the teen like he was the worst existence to come in to the world, but the curiosity took the best of him. "So, where did you even find this Grimm?" Ceril himself flinched as he locked in place. His emerald eyes would close as he took a deep breath.

"I saw it on my way home from Sanctum… on a dirt path secluded from my hometown and the city my school was in. It seemed to be scouting the area, a sign of intelligence. After I captured the picture, it noticed me and flew away." The teen folded his hands as he began to recall the memory. His gaze fell onto the table and back onto his extended scroll. "It was gone instantly. I just shrugged it off and walked home. Thought I'd ask about it later and completely forgot." His gaze shifted to the left as he recalled the next events that came up.

"It was the next day that I heard that a woman was attacked and greatly wounded. So bad that they had to ship her over here to Vales for immediate medical treatment. The only thing that ran through my mind was if it was a coincidence or not." Everyone stared silently, almost breathless as the teen closed his eyes. "So naturally I investigated. I found it. I would had never found it if I wasn't specifically looking for it though. When I attempted to engage it. Grimm after Grimm attacked me. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but they were so coordinated. So dangerous. I'd dodge left and one would be waiting for me there. I'd attack an unguarded Grimm and another with block for it." Ceril took a deep breath as he shuddered at the memory. The only thing he even noticed was the red light shining from it's eyes to the other Grimm. To which it'd suddenly become coordinate. "By the time I finished up the Grimm, it was already gone. I haven't seen it since."

* * *

≤ Beacon: Peter's Classroom ≥

* * *

"Monsters! Demons! Prowlers of the night! Yes the creatures of Grimm have many names!"

Ceril sat at his desk, mouth agape. It'd been forty minutes since the Grimm Studies class has begun and not a single ounce of knowledge had been obtained. "He's joking? Right?" The red head whispered to his left. On his right were Hena who was dead asleep on the table with Slovik slowly dozing off next.

"He looks pretty serious." Arcana spoke from his left. Completely losing track of the entire class and opted to play with his shiny new scroll that the school had issued him. He clicked typed randomly on the object with a more then confused look. "Got it!" An excited whisper.

『 PING 』Ceril picked up his scroll that suddenly rung once. There was a message left on his scroll from the silver haired boy. ' _You're sitting too close, move away...'_ A deadpanned expression lay on his face as he heard a sudden thud from behind him. Looking behind revealed a Paul who was knocked out head first onto his desk. Olga and Oswald were sleeping shoulder to shoulder while Remlin bore a similar expression to the red head.

"Ah, this reminds of a time not so long ago! There I was… surrounded by Grimm! Beowolves, Ursa! Deathstalkers and Nevermore! Armed with only a log from a tree I cut down…!"

"Then where was the axe you used to chop it down?!" Ceril suddenly bursts out as he slammed his palms against the table. Hena jumped up high as she fell off the chair and onto the ground while everyone else just stuttered awake.

"Ah my boy! If I simply used the axe, it'd be too easy!" The Professor let out a boisterous laugh as he folded his arms.

"Too easy?! Considering the aerodynamics of attempting to swing a tree around. I feel that it's completely and highly inefficient! Why would you even think to do that?!" The professor simply gave a louder laugh at the young man's reaction.

"My my, sometimes you'll find yourself in situations where you'll be unarmed and outmatched! Come come, stand in front of the class." The red head let out a growl as he looked to his right. Hena was a bit groggy while Slovik just stared with an uninterested expression. To his left was Arcana, still playing on his scroll.『 PING 』Looking down at his scroll, ' _Do it faggot.'_ … The red head got up as he let out a sigh and moved to the center of the room.

The red head stood at the center of the class and shrugged. "Okay, now what?"

Professor Port walked over to a box that had been laying in the room and suddenly broke off the edge with his bare hands. "Now, you fight. Prepare yourself!"

A large growl echoed throughout the class as a boneless Beowolf sprung from the cage. The only feature of black besides its fur and streakless mask. "Are you for real?" The red head spoke as he was already in the Beowolf sight.

"Fight my boy! Survive and prevail!" The white haired teacher raised his hand as the entire class stared agape. No one had their weapons at the moment, no one expected to even need them. The beast then would lunge at Ceril, causing him to side step out of the way. The creature of darkness would then turn around to get hit in the face with a golden bust of Peter Port. The hair on the statue would chip off as it flew across the room and landed in front of the Professor. "No! My glorious bust!"

The Grimm let out a screech as Ceril hit its other cheek with the bust. Causing the head to break off and fly out through the class window. The wolf staggered backwards as the red head would then uppercut it in its lower jaw. Sending the beast backwards to fall on its back. The rest of the class would then get to witness the red head mount a Beowolf by pinning its arms with their knees. Proceeding to continuously beat in the Grimm's face with the remaining of the statue.

Black particles released from the Grimm as it began to fade from defeat. Ceril wiped a growing sweat as he dropped the dented and unrecognizable bust onto the floor. The Professor running up to the remains of his once glorious statue and began to silently sob. "Oh man, I don't know about you guys, but I feel so much better."

The school bell would then ring out loud as the professor stuttered. "C-class dismissed." It took a few seconds before the class could actually collect themselves and began to move out.

Hena bounced up and down as she shifted between her three male teammates. "That was so exciting! I can't wait to fight my own Grimm! Ceril was all like, wham! Bam, Pow!" The black haired Faunus would shadow the red head's previous movements. "It was the third hit when the Professor truly realized his mistake as he stared in awe at my partner's performance!"

"I think that was more of a look of horror then a one of amazement." Arcana still had his nose to his scroll, idly browsing through a new discovery. The RemNet.

"I'm surprised you were even paying attention." Slovik stated, not that he was listening to the class on his own up till the Grimm came out.

Ceril just groaned out as he sagged his shoulders. "I am skipping, every. Single. Class. If that's how he's going to be teaching. I don't mind fighting Grimm or anything, but no weapons, dust or armor? Even worse than all those combined… those lectures!"

"I think that was more of a lesson on preparedness than anything." Slovik pitched in as the four grew closer to their next class for History.

"Well I showed him prepared. I busted that Grimm in the face." Ceril narrowed his eyes as he smacked his fist into his palm. Hena suddenly let out a laugh as even Arcana snickered.

"H-hey! That wasn't funny! Don't laugh!" Slovik gave an offended expression. Causing Ceril to start laughing as Hena just broke out more. "C'mon guys! I'm serious. This aint funny!"

Everyone would then enter the next class room and sat in arrangement just as the last class they were in.

"Hello everyone!" The next professor would then quickly dash in. Taking a quick sip from his Thermos. He then began to speak so fast, one would question if he even had time to gulp. "My name is Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck. Today we'll be going over our broken world that is Remnant and our history that we've left on it." The teacher gave a short bow as he gave a polite introduction. "Now if everyone would be as kind to open your tomes up to page…"

* * *

≤ Beacon: Glynda's Arena ≥

* * *

"Hello Class," The third known professor of Beacon spoke up. Everyone stayed seated in the seats above the arena. "My name is Professor Glynda Goodwitch." The blonde teacher smacked her riding crop against her palm. Gaining the attention of everyone who wasn't. Each earning a glare. The room housed both first and second year students. "I'll be supervising the Combat Studies class where you will each be fought against each other to gain further experience in your strengths and weaknesses." The class began to murmur amongst themselves, only to be silenced by another loud snap from the teacher's crop. "Let's begin, the first two people will be. Yatsuhashi Daichi and Oswald Gem. Please come down to the arena." Yatsuhashi got up from his seat and proceeded down to the arena. Though Olga and Oswald were arguing amongst themselves between their other two teams.

"You go, you're the offensive type." The twin wearing the pants spoke lowly. Olga merely grumbled as she spoke in hush as well.

"No no, it'll be good practice if you focus on your defensive stance. He looks like…"

"AHEM!" The blonde which coughed loudly as they suddenly got interrupted. "Anytime now." The two twins looked at each other for a moment.

"Foul play?" They would both nod in union as Olga handed Oswald her sword. "Watch my back." Taking a breath, the male left his skirted twin and hopped down into the arena. A sword in both hands.

Glynda narrowed her eyes as she watched the exchange, but chose to stay silent as both fighters got into position. "Your auras have been connected to your scrolls. This match is over once you drop below forty percent. Begin!"

Yatsuhashi was the first to charge as he drew his orange great sword. Oswald stood in position as he raised his sword in the direction of the very much larger man. The floors began to crack as the green armored man swung his blade horizontally at the black haired twin. The shorter of the two merely jumped up into the air and flipped over the man. Yet Yatsuhashi immediately reacted with a vertical slash up as his blade followed the overhead motion.

Oswald effortlessly rotated his body to dodge the attack. ' _There's a cooldown on his shockwave. Switch.'_ The thought passed through his mind, but it wasn't his own. Now it was. Oswald's eyes suddenly became sharp as he landed on the floor. Two swords falling behind as he gave two horizontal slashes down the back of the green armored man. Yatsuhashi twirled around, sword following behind as the shockwave from his swing once again shown in full force.

The black haired teen attempted to jump back, but was caught in the shockwave and quickly lost balanced. He'd staggered a bit as he finally caught himself and got up. Yet Yatsuhashi was already behind him. ' _It's on cooldown, I'll defend. Switch._ ' Eyes would then change from sharp to calm. Both swords raised in an X as Yatsuhashi's next attack was blindly blocked from overhead. The students in the stand began to cheer in excitement as the fight didn't go too one-sided as it would originally seem.

* * *

≤ Beacon: Garden ≥

* * *

Paul sat idly at one of the benches that lay across the grassy field. Staring idly at the pond that decorated the side of the garden. A solemn expression lay on his face as a sigh escaped his lips. "Something wrong?" The sudden voice startled the tall man as he turned to look at Ceril walking out of the school building. Cheering could still be heard from inside as the two weren't too far from the arena to begin with.

"Oh… hey Ceril. Just thinking." Ceril just shrugged as he walked passively on over to take a seat next to the taller teen. "Not watching the fight anymore?" The red head shrugged as he leaned back against the bench and looked at the pond.

"Oswald is going to lose. His endurance was already running out and his arms are straining by merely blocking." Paul sagged as he just let out another sigh.

"I… just." The brunette struggled to find the right words. Even going as far as contemplating if he should even speak his thoughts. A worried expression peered over to the red head as he just gave a passive look in return. "Ceril, I… I shouldn't be here." The red head just blinked in response. Not giving a reply as he waited for Paul to continue or explain. "I thought I could match up with everyone. I had a lot more strength then my peers back home, but I never saw a real hunter fight before so I didn't have any comparisons."

"Hm." Ceril hummed out as he looked back at the pond.

"My cousin was planning on joining Beacon, but decided against it. He had the same name as me and didn't look that much different either… So, without saying anything. I took his place and entered Beacon." The red head's brows raised as the realization came to bare. The revelation was a lot more than Ceril had expected.

"What? Why would you do that?" He responded as the teen sat up straight. Of all the stupid things Ceril could think of doing, this was definitely on one of the top of lists of things. "At least tell me you have some form of training, you're built like a train."

A staggered laugh released from the Paul's lips as he just palmed his face into his hands. "I come from a family of blacksmiths, Ceril. Weapons, Armors, Tools and anything else that comes with forging and crafting. It's in the family." The brunette looked up into the air with a sad expression. The defeat in his voice evident as he looked lost. "I always wanted to be a hunter. It's like… every kid's dream to be a hunter. Yet finding out that it's almost impossible. Getting rejected from the academies before you can even prove yourself."

Ceril's gaze changed as he recalled that some people were just outright denied from preliminary schools. "So how many?"

Paul went still at the unexpected question. He would then laugh sourly as he recollected himself. The red head always seemed a bit off to him in the two days that they've known each other. "So you noticed? Eight."

A short nod was given as the red head just stared blankly out. Neither continuing on from that morbid conversation. It was true that anyone could be a hunter, but if a particular family continued to produce hunters that continuously failed or died in the process of training… That family could very well be downright blacklisted from even attempting to try. It was deemed as a safety for those families who couldn't become hunters statistically, but really. It was more on the lines of not wasting anymore funds on a family that just couldn't push out a successful hunter.

Emerald green eyes would then begin to glow blue as his gaze turned over to Paul. After a moment, it'd flicker back off to green as the red head spoke. "Is your aura unlocked?" The only response was a shake of his head. At least this explained why he left the classroom. It'd become immediately aware if he was connected to the scroll and no aura showed up on screen. "Do you really want to become a hunter that badly?"

"Yes…" Paul's voice cracked as he bit into his bottom lip. "More than anything." Ceril close his eyes as he contemplated Paul's options. He'd then give a short nod as he pushed himself off the bench and stood up.

"I'll help you." The brunette's eyes widened as he looked at the red head. A hand was placed on his shoulder. "I'll help you become the best hunter you can ever be. Close your eyes and concentrate" Ceril closed his eyes as his aura began to resonate, Paul blankly stared before his own eyes closed. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee." The brunette's aura began to rise as it surrounded his entire being. Ceril took a step back as he tried to steady himself upright. The massive usage of his aura felt as if he got hit by truck.

"This feels…" Paul spoke up as he thought of a way to describe the feeling, but nothing came up.

"Congratulations Paul, you're one step closer to becoming a hunter." The teen stood up from the bench as his aura began to withdraw from around him. "I'll do what I can to help you, but I need your full cooperation if we're going to pull you up to par before anyone notices." A surprised expression looked up at the red head and then back at his hands. An opportunity, a chance. All he ever wanted was in front of him.

Paul balled his fists in determination as he looked at Ceril and spoke with more conviction then he ever had in his life. "I'll do it, whatever it takes."

* * *

≤ : ≥

* * *

A muffled panicked voice spoked through rough fabric. A female figure wearing a Beacon uniform was tied up and struggling. Eyes and mouth both wrapped shut.

"Sh… sh… it's okay. It'll all be over soon. Very soon, just you wait." A man spoke from the corner of the room. Causing several other tied of figures in the room to begin struggling and panic. From both male and female. To students and civilian... The man walked across the room and pressed a button on the wall. The square on the wall began to open. A small Beowolf sat idly inside the box until it saw the man. Instincts kicked in as it began to growl and attack the glass pane that separated the two. "Now which one wants to be Grimm food…?"

More panic entered the room and the ropes that tied the people down began to glow black. Moments later, the glowing faded as black particles left the ropes and began floating towards the small Grimm. The particles passed through the pane wall seamlessly as it began to enter the Grimm. The white mask of the wolf began to grow red streaks as spikes protruded from its spine and joints. The fur became more feral as even the teeth on the Grimm began to increase as the negative energy flowed directly into it's very being.

"Ha ha ha…. HA HA HA…. AHAHAHAHAHAHA! FEED IT! FEED IT MORE! THANK YOU FOR YOUR VOLUNTEERS!"

AN: Well here's another chapter that I totally should had posted quite a few days ago. Yet I didn't have as much time as I hoped to have with all my work, but hey. I won't complain about more money. Anyways… since I'm bad with descriptions and stuff. I'll leave a general list for every character that gets introduced in the chapter that isn't canon. Read, Review, Much Love.

General Synapses of characters.

Ceril - Red Hair, Green Eyes, Average Figure - 6'0  
Arcana - Silver Hair, Golden Eyes, Average Figure - 5'7  
Slovik - Black Hair, Pale Red Eyes, Tall Figure - 6'2  
Hena - Long Black Hair, Red Eyes, Petite Figure - 4'10  
Paul - Brown Short Hair, Hazel Eyes, Muscular Figure - 6'4  
Olga/Oswald - Short Black Hair, Blue Eyes, Petite Figure - 5'8  
Remlin - Medium Blue Hair, Blue Eyes, Petite Figure - 5'5  
Clairis - Long Strawberry Red Hair, Red Eyes, Loli Figure - 4'6  
Ashton - Short Grey Hair, Yellow Eyes, Busty Figure - 5'7


	3. Calm before the Storm

Disclaimer: Ownership of RWBY belongs to that of Month and Rooster Teeth

' _Thoughts'_

" **Shouts** "

 _ **Flash Backs**_

『 Telecom 』

* * *

≤ Vales: Mall ≥

* * *

"So let me get this straight." Remlin rubbed the bridge of her nose as she looked over at Arcana. "Paul's knocked out in bed from over training. The twins got roped into a magical adventure with Hena. Ceril just up and disappeared and you thought it'd be okay to follow me around?" The girl's blue eyes shifted over to the silverette. Whose own golden gaze was on their week old scroll. It was a mild surprise when Ceril entered the room and made Paul confess his secret to the team. Though he seemed at least willing to try and better, there was no problem on Remlin's side.

"Mfh. Ceril said I'd get lost if I didn't follow someone." The girl raised a brow as she looked at the feminine boy who was irritatingly typing out what seemed to be a text. 『 Ping 』An excited look was given as the message was received. Then immediately dropped in anger as he spoke out their own text. "Your message is blank, why is it always blank?!"

The girl could only give a deadpan gaze as it appeared Arcana was still techno-illiterate. It wasn't too surprising considering he didn't know things like scrolls even existed until they were handed one for school purposes. As helpful as Ceril likes to be though, he's made it his mission to screw with Arcana in every corner of that progress. To put it simply, that red headed bastard has been replying with blank text messages.

"So do you even know what to do at a mall?" Arcana's brows twitched as he looked up at the blue haired girl then around the area. The crowd was almost as massive as the chatter of noise muffled together with all the sound waves going off at once.

"What's a mall?"

"ARGHH! COME ON!" Remlin was at her wits with this… socially inept and techno-illiterate. If she didn't know better… this might've been that red head's plan all along. ' _No… no, that'd be giving him too much credit._ ' The girl passively thought as she pulled the teen into a clothing store.

"We'll just. Try on some new clothes and buy them if they're good." The girl scurried through the aisles and immediately hit the female spring section. Winter wasn't even close yet and summer being just right around the corner.

"Do I look like I have Lien?" Arcana only grumbled as he as dragged into a more then fancy looking place. He wasn't completely illiterate when it came to finances, but the silverette never had more than enough to actually make a good difference.

An exasperated gaze fell upon him. Causing the male to look away nervously. "As a matter of fact, no." The outfit Arcana wore now was fairly, untamed. His top was a buttoned-up red long sleeved shirt that definitely did not fit. His right shoulder and part of his chest would had definitely been revealed if it wasn't for the tank top being worn as an undershirt. The short shorts weren't helping out that much either, but the length of the shirt covered up anything that might be too revealing. The only thing that looked like they'd fit was the ankle-high boots the teen wore. "Seriously, where did you even get that outfit from?"

"Shirt belongs to Ceril, undershirt and shorts belong to Hena. Boots are mine." Arcana spoke up as he began to literally describe where he got his outfit from.

"What? You guys are sharing clothes?" The girl tilted her head at the revelation. It's only been a damn week. Are they that close already?

"Eh… It's just me, only really came to Beacon with the clothes on my back. Ceril said it wouldn't do to wear my school uniform all the time."

Remlin glazed over at him then back at the clothing. "Speaking of which, why are you even wearing a male uniform?"

"Probably 'cause I'm male. I think that's how that works." Arcana said honestly as he looked back down at his scroll when another message came in. The teen gave no heed as he started clicking on replies.

"Yeah… I guess it does." Remlin rubbed her temples then raised her hands in defeat. She definitely did think Arcana was a girl. A girl just deciding to wear the male uniform. To be fair, Remlin didn't like skirts all too much either. Battle skirts though… ' _You know what, have fun with it._ ' It seemed that Team CASH rolled with the punches with how passive they could be sometimes. Might as well take a page out of their book and have fun with it. "Try this on."

Arcana looked up to see one of the frilliest clothing he had ever seen. It had a regular white top with a golden flower-like weave to the skirt. Remlin walked up and pressed it against his chest as he she nodded. Looking to be the right fit. Arcana's eyes twitched as he looked down, gaining a victorious smirk from the Remlin. "It won't cost much right?" He'd then ask after a moment of silence. The girl could only give a blank stare at finally figuring at that this guy was serious.

"You know what, if it fits. I'll buy it for you. I'll even give you a matching accessory." Arcana gave a contemplating look. He didn't really like being sympathized as he most definitely was a case of tragic syndrome. Arcana was his own person and he could take care of himself.

Remlin watched as Arcana just turned and gave a very dignified humph. "I don't know… I'll have to ask Ceril." The girl's brow raised in question as she looked at boy who began to give a short dial on his scroll.

"You're very reliant on him for someone who shows such outward dislike towards the guy." Arcana clicked his tongue as the scroll continued to ring without answer.

"It's not that I dislike him. It's just that he gets under my skin and that makes me uncomfortable." The scroll continued to ring as the irritation grew. The blue haired girl just gave a nod in response. Recalling how he had done exactly the same thing in their first meeting. Ceril wasn't a bad guy, he was just. Weird or something.

『 **Click** What Arcana? I'm kind of busy right now. 』The scroll finally picked up as it closed in on its final ring.

"Ceril, it's Arcana." Remlin face palmed. A loud sigh escaped from the scroll as the other teen once again talked

『 Yes… Hello Arcana, what do you need? 』

"Remlin is offering to buy me clothes. What should I do?"

『 Do you like the clothes? 』The teen asked in response after a moment of silence. One had to give credit when it was due. Ceril was a patient man when it came to his less than adept team.

Arcana glanced over at the yellow dress for a moment with a mildly serious expression. "Yes..."

『 Are there any strings attached? 』Arcana looked the dress up and down. He was about to speak again, but Remlin cut him off.

"No Ceril, there aren't any strings attached." A snorting laugh could be heard from the scroll, making Remlin silently curse. Obviously he had guessed what was going on.

『 Then it's fine, Arcana. Send me a picture after you're done. You know how to do that right? 』Arcana loudly humphed and crossed his arms. Making sure his voice and expression broke through the walls of reality and into the red head's mind.

"O-of course I do! That'll be all!" The feminine looking male would then end the call with another click. After a moment of silence, he'd look back at the dress and speak. "So, why did you lie to him about the strings on the dress?" He said out loud as he looked at some of the loose frills. A laughter suddenly broke out from the distance.

Across the room was a young female cashier. Holding her stomach with one hand as her face lay on the table and her other palm smacked against it. She was laughing, and laughing hard. A sigh escaped Remlin's lips as she pushed Arcana to the dressing room with the clothing. "You know what, I'll find something too, you put that on and hang tight."

After a few minutes, Remlin returned with a simple one piece dress. Muffled sounds escaped the dressing room, followed by curses and slander. "You okay?"

"How do I get this blasted thing on?!"

Arcana spoke in a distressed manner as they shuffled around the room. "Hold on, don't rip the dress. Do you mind if I come in?"

"Just come in already!" He shouted as Remlin stepped into the dressing room. They were already properly in the dress, but the teen couldn't reach behind to zip up the dress from the back.

"Hold still," The girl spoke as she steadied him and began to zip up the dress. The girl would then smooth out the wedges that were ruffled up. "Alright, put these two on now." She stated as she pulled out a yellow flower ornament and yellow ankle-boots to match the dress. The boots were the first to come on, but Arcana just stared at the hair ornament. Not entirely sure what it was for. Another sigh escaped the girl's lips as she pushed Arcana's medium long hair behind one of her ears and held it in place with the ornament.

The girl would then step back as she gave him a once over. He definitely didn't have a chest, but the dress she picked took that in mind. Regardless, the teen looked absurdly like a girl. Even his voice gave no credit to masculinity. "Alright there, now get out while I get changed." This day was turning out to be more of a hassle then it was worth. Not that the girl feeling slightly jealous was helping. Seriously, how could this _**man**_ look so much cuter compared to her bland petite self? Hell, he even had curves! ' _Why does he have curves? He doesn't need them_!' Her thought was cut short as a flash came from Arcana's scroll. She had already stripped her garments off when she was caught off guard. Remlin's gaze turned to see that Arcana had his scroll raised high enough to get a picture of himself in the dress. Though what caught her attention was that she could clearly see her bare naked self in the background.

 _ **『**_ _ **Send me a picture after you're done.**_ _ **』**_

The memory flashed quickly through her mind. Remlin raised her hand to grab for the scroll as she shouted. "Wait! Arcana don-" she didn't get a chance to finish as the picture on the scroll shrunk into a box and then shifted off the screen in a mail icon.

≤ Beacon: Library ≥

"Haha haha! My army of Grimm is slowly marching into your last bastille!" Slovik laughed maniacally as he moved his ground troops over into Atlas territory. "You only have one turn left before I rampage through your Atlesian Air Fleet! Mantle will be mine! Those robotic army bonuses won't save you now!"

"Oh no, brother!" What do we do?!" Olga covered her face with her palms as she shook her head. Slovik had been sitting on one side of the table with her and Oswald on the other side. Hena in her excitement, totally left the two behind as she ran off to Oum knows where. Leaving just them around with Paul knocked out from over training.

"Be strong sister." Oswald comforted his whining sister. "Our Aerial Fleet cannot be attacked by the likes of his ground troops." The male twin would look down at the cards in his hands while taking a peek at his sisters. They had decided to play Remnant: The Game. A few copies were always present in the library and they encouraged strategic thinking between students. The two thought they'd have such an easy win when Slovik agreed to a two on one, yet they found themselves in a slowly losing battle. Even when he only picked the Grimm and allowed the two to have Atlas, Vacuo, Mistral and Vales all together. The Grimm were indeed a powerful and formidable enemy…

"We use Air Strike on your ground troops!" Olga shouted as the two finally decided on a card to play. An Air Strike had many bonuses against ground-based units. With the Grimm having no defense against such attacks. They'll be immediately destroyed under the great banner of Atlas' might!

"You fools!" Slovik dramatically pulled a card from his hand and raised it into the air. "I activate Nevermore Revelations! When my troops takes an attack from an Aerial Fleet, it converts my ground troops into flying for the rest of the turn!" The husky Faunus dropped the card onto the table. Indeed revealing that he had such power to do so against their last remaining army. Humanities hope was now doomed.

"Noooo!" Both the twins cried in union, hugging into each other tightly as they silently sobbed.

"It's mine! All mine!" Slovik called out as he flicked the last remaining pieces of humanity off the board. Laughter soon following suit in the game's demise.

"Brother! He's a madman!"" Olga whimpered into her brother's shoulder. Oswald patted her back. "What should we do?!"

"I don't know sister, what do you advise?!" The male twin said pensively as Olga let out a low whining sigh.

"We must sate the beast… we agreed that if it ever came to it… our masculinity was less valuable then our chastity." Both twins sighed at the same time. Oswald then stood up slowly and turned to face Slovik. The shit eating grin still plastered on his face from the high of actually winning and beating the odds.

"It is just _**I**_ that will sate your overbearing hunger, but as inexperienced as we are, please treat us well." Slovik looked at the male twin up and down for a moment before shaking his head. The twins tended to act like a total troll at times and it seemed they do it purely for reactions. His grin would slowly turn into a smirk as he played along with the two.

"You think just one of you could quench this thirst?!" Slovik shouted as he slammed his hand onto the table. "You yourself is barely even half! Take your punishment as it should be! As one!" The husky shouted out to the two, hands slamming onto the table as the teen fixed his glasses. Olga grew wide eyed as Oswald turned to look at his sister as if to ask a question. No words were vocally exchanged as the two would then nod.

"Olly, it seems that our plan has backfired." Oswald sat back down and hugged his sister tightly. "He plans to take all of our things." The brother whimpered silently while Olga hugged her brother back in response.

"It's okay Ozzy, whatever happens, we'll get through this together."

After a moment, both twins stood up and bowed. Each speaking and moving in such a perfect unison, that only hours of practice could mimic such an act. "As inexperienced as we are, please take care of us." Slovik could only laugh as this was becoming too much. The twins were definitely better at this type of game then he was.

"All joking aside," The husky pushed his long hair behind his shoulder, he'd then begin to put the board game away as overplaying games like these made them boring. "where is everyone?"

The twins would look at each other and then turn around immediately as they begun to mumble amongst themselves. " _I told you he was joking! Why did you take it seriously?!_ " Oswald whispered loudly into his sister's ear. They bother held their own irritated expression, but one could tell who was who by the glean in their eyes. Oswald tended to have a more of a calm passive look while Olga had a sharp aggressive one.

" _I don't know! He had that look in his eyes the other guys had back in APA!_ " The female twin replied soundly to her twin.

"Uh, you guys didn't actually think I was serious… right?" Slovik said in a little bit of a worried tone. The last thing he wanted was to be labeled as the weirdo or pervert in the group. Labels like that just never left a person and made reputations permanently stained.

' _We're so stupid! He's a Faunus! Of course he'd hear us!_ ' Oswald shouted through their link, making Olga twitch in response.

' _It's okay, play it off as a joke!_ ' Olga suggested as her eyes shifted onto the worried look of Slovik. The girl would then snicker and give the taller teen a wave. "Oh we're sorry, Slovik. You just seemed so," a playful smirk left her lips. "Serious…"

' _This is why we didn't have any friends back in Atlas! Maybe chastity should be first!_ ' The twins once again bowed. Their actions were almost always in unison. When one thought to gesture, most of the time both would due to their semblance. "You had us by the ropes. We were ready to surrender everything."

Slovik just rolled his eyes as he groaned out. These two were definitely messing with him, not a single doubt with that. "Seriously though, where is everyone?"

"Remlin went to the mall" Oswald spoke, "and Paul is in bed." Olga finished.

The black haired Faunus nodded as he thought of his own team. "Hena just ran off excitedly somewhere. Arcana I saw chasing after Remlin and Oum knows where Ceril went."

『 **Ring Ring Ring** 』 Slovik looked down at his scroll as he saw his long time childhood nuisance give him a call.

"Speak of the devil and she shall appear." He stated out loud as he answered his scroll.

『 S-slovik. I need, help. 』 The husky could hear her panted and gasping breaths. Slovik only signed as he spoke up.

"Hena? Are you having another panic attack again?" He asked with a frustrated tone in his voice. The girl was a handful with just her vibrant personality, but her insecurities were on a whole other level and he'd like to avoid such happenings.

『 Slovik... I. 』 Hena seemed to be struggling on the other line and he only cut her off as he spoke up.

"Hena, listen." He paused momentarily and listened to a raspy breath on the other line. "You need to learn to take care of yourself. You can't always be depending on people." It was the best he could do for her if he ever hoped she could stand up on her own.

『 Slovik. 』 She tried once again and the irritation beaded off his person.

"Handle it yourself, Hena!" He quickly cut the call on the scroll as he let out a sigh. The two twins stared at him with tilted heads as he just ran a hand through his medium black hair. "Hena sometimes has anxiety attacks. She gets over them quickly though." The two twins nodded in hesitated confirmation.

Slovik folded his arms as he thought back to the current week. Things were definitely going a lot better than he thought it would had. Ceril had taken up most, if not all of Hena's attention. Giving the teen himself enough breathing room for the first time in many… many years. Arcana was always on edge when it came to their leader, but recently it looked as if he would always go to him with literally every little question.

If it was Slovik, he'd of flipped a table on Arcana or something. It was downright disrespectful to treat someone like he does to the red head, yet still expect quick and fast responses so he could stop talking to him faster. Not that the relationship between Slovik and Arcana was even better. It was like their entire team is slowly being built on tolerance and efficiency. So it wasn't bad, but still not good.

"Slovik has gone silent… he is thinking devious thoughts." Olga whispered over to her twin, the husky clearly hearing the two despite it being lower than before.

"Hena told me he was hitting on Arcana the first day despite him being a boy. Those devious thoughts could be anything…" Oswald whispered back to his sister as their whispers were close as mouth to ear.

' _Okay, maybe I should enact justly punishment…_ ' The tempting thought drove passed his mind as the twins teasing didn't relent.

≤ Beacon: Dorm ≥

Paul was lying face first into his pillow as a low groan left his lips. If one could describe what hunter training was like. It'd be pure unadulterated hell. The tallest teen of the group was no slouch when it came to working out. You needed strong arms after all to work the forge, but after lunch. Mandatory individual training was required for two straight hours, then mandatory team training for another two hours. Paul was dead by the time both were done. A technical self-study was given for the next hour before students were allowed to leave the school grounds for personal business.

It was at that moment that Ceril had come to collect him… for more training. His already sore body instantly died as the red head completely destroyed any self-confident Paul might have had in himself. ' _Seriously what did he expect from me…'_

" _ **I'll do what I can to help you, but I need your full cooperation if we're going to pull you up to par before anyone notices."**_

" _ **I'll do it, whatever it takes."**_

' _No… don't answer that._ ' Paul rolled over onto his back. His bones cracked and his limbs ached in such unwarranted pain. The hardest part of the ordeal was that the next morning, Ceril had come into the room while everyone was getting ready for classes and demanded Paul tell everyone. To be truthful, Paul was scared. That paranoia was just as quickly relieved considering everyone had seemed to be accepting of the situation in some form or way. A smile cracked on Paul's face as it turned into a wide grin.

Paul's own fights in Combat Studies were very subpar at first, Professor Goodwitch literally did nothing but denote him at every single action he did. Yet after the third day. Angry banter became words of praise at his steady improvement. It was just today that he finally had won a fight against one of the girls from Team CALZ. Boy was she not happy when their blonde teacher went off on everything she did wrong.

Don't get him wrong or anything. He was barely decent, unlike Ceril. Who of which hasn't lost a single fight yet in the Arena. It was astonishing at how little effort someone could put into a fight, yet always come out victorious. ' _Perfect Memory, is that really such an advantage?_ ' His thoughts wondered onto the time Ceril talked about his semblance. When activated, his eyes would turn blue and anything within his vision would be completely remembered for the rest of his life. Lectures, Theories, Experiences, Combat Stances and Fighting Styles. Everything. The teen assured him that he'd still have to practice everything to even be remotely good at something, but it was still such a cheat in comparison to most people.

Paul shook his head as he pushed the thoughts aside. There was no need to envy Ceril or anyone else on his own team. They were all helping him in his own way. "I'm the leader of Team PORO. Don't worry everyone… I'll become the leader that you all see me as." Paul raised his hand up to the ceiling. "I won't disappoint you." Grasping onto a thought that once seemed so impossibly far away, yet now… Now it was slowly coming into his grasp. One week at a time. A sudden stitch clipped Paul in his sore arm as he instantly dropped it and let out a loud groan. At least no one was here to witness him be a total pussy over how much pain he was in.

* * *

≤ Vales: Shopping District ≥

* * *

Hena scurried around the district to as many counters as she possibly could. Giving out loud obnoxious ou's and ah's as she laid eyes on many of the outdoor displays. The fox was only playing when she begged Ceril for some Lien. Yet to Slovik's very disgruntled expression, he had given her enough to buy something neat. Her long time childhood friend didn't seem too happy with Ceril indulging her and decided not to go with her to anywhere. Then opted to completely ignore her.

Ceril's other friend Paul was out cold on the bed and Remlin had walked out a while ago with Arcana slowly following behind. Which only left her with the twins. "Oh it's no fair that Olga gets to have a brother, I want a brother!" Hena had palmed her face with her hands as she shifted back and forth. Garnering some weird looks from the pedestrians that walked by. The Faunus decided to wear a beret to hide her ears. Besides that, she wore a black shirt with the sleeves a bit too long and some plain black shorts. No fashionista in this blood at all.

Yet the adventure with the twins was not to be, after rushing past Arcana and Remlin. She soon lost the two at Beacon and just decided to run off on her own. "Hey! Watch where you're going!" The girl's hat twitched as a male voice shouted off in the distance. Curiosity perked on over as Hena shuffled past the crowd to investigate the disturbance. A very tall burnt orange haired man was spotted in the epicenter. He looked to be shouting down at a female Faunus with small antlers.

"S-sorry sir! I didn-" The Faunus kept her eyes to the ground as she stuttered out a quick apology. The man was glaring down at her with folded arms and a disgusted expression on his face.

"Did I say you could speak?" He asked aggressively, causing the girl to stammer up in responses or anything that could get her out of the situation. It was then that Hena stepped in via under the man's massive arms.

"Yeah! Did he say you can speak?!" The black haired Faunus-in-Hiding spoke up almost sounding offended at the antlered girl. The act alone caused the girl to instantly clam up with a feared look in her eyes. The taller man was mildly caught off guard due to the sudden appearance of a small black haired girl appearing from bellow his arm. "You think you have any right to speak looking like that?!"

The surprise soon left as the man took the girl as an accomplice and smirked. "Yeah that's right. You're just a filthy Faunus, you have no right to s-" Though his next words caught stuck in his mouth as the black haired girl spoke up.

"I mean look at that bust size! It's way to large!" It was the tall man's turn to start stammering his words as he was caught completely off guard by the girl's statement. Even the Faunus who once wore a scared expression was now donning a confused one. "It's at least a high c-cup or maybe even a d!" Hena leaned forward as she pointed directly at the Faunus' bust and looked up to the man. "Do you see it?! Look at it!" The burnt orange haired man took a moment to blankly stare at his would be supporter then back at the Faunus. Who of which would then start instinctively covering her chest with a mortified expression on her face.

A sudden blush started escaping the man's face as he quickly spoke. "Wait that's not the po-" Yet he was once against caught off guard by Hena.

"Look! She's obviously showing off!" Her finger then pointed towards the Faunus' shirt. Which was a perfect fit for the nice figure the antler Faunus had. "Not only does her outfit fit perfectly around, but it's definitely made to show those busts, that cleavage. That Ass! Look at it!" As she spoke each part, the man couldn't help but look at every aspect of the girl. Causing the man to blush more before clicking his tongue and turning around.

"You know what, this isn't worth it!" His arms unfolded as he threw them into the air while he walked off. Hena just giggled as she winked at the other Faunus and skittered off towards the man walking away. Leaving a very confused, mortified and now embarrassed looking Faunus in the district.

Hena once again followed up by entering through his underside. He was that taller that she could easily maneuver around the teen. Despite his tall height, he seemed to be looking around her age. "Aw come on, you know she was cute." The girl openly teased the man who was still apparently blushing.

"No! She's a filthy Faunus." The man folded his arms again as his blushed face turned disgruntled. Hena smiled up at him despite the guy trying not to make eye contact with the very much smaller girl.

"Cover the horns and she's a really pretty girl." Hena threw the shot in while he was still thinking about it. Forcing the man to look down at the girl with a glare. She just stared blankly back for a moment before changing her expression into a goofy grin.

"Why are you even following me?" He asked as the last of his nerves visibly began to get thrown out.

"I'm looking for a brother!" Hena exclaimed loudly. The male just glared at her as he started pacing away a bit faster. To his contempt, the girl only paced quicker as if bouncing on her feet. "So I'm Hena! What's your name?" That grin never left her face and it continued to agitate the male.

A growl escaped his vocals as he spoke up, hoping that she'd back off if he just gave her what she wanted. "It's Cardin. How long are you going to be following me for?"

"As long as I have to!" The fox-in-hiding grabbed Cardin by the shoulder and began to drag him forward. His first action was to keep his feet to the ground and stop. Yet the tall teen had begun to get yanked and dragged as his feet slid across the floor. He'd stammer a bit in words as the sheer strength this girl was using caught him completely off guard at that moment. "If you don't have plans, let's go to the amusement park!" Cardin tried to get a few words in between trying to remove Hena's strong grip, but to no avail he'd definitely be dragged along in this joy ride.

A dart shot through the air at high speed. A loud crack was followed as the tip pierced through and shattered pieces of a wooden wall. Three other darts next to it in the same manner. "NOOOO!" Hena cried out in agony as she lay solemnly against the counter on one of the many games the park had to offer. Right next to the dart were balloons of various size and colors. Each holding different points for different prizes. The fox-in-hiding attempted to hit the biggest one, but failed entirely. "Cardin! Cardin! What am I supposed to do?! That was my last Lien!"

Tears threatened to break out of the girl's eyes as Cardin just wore a passive expression. There was no point staying mad at the girl for so long. Especially considering that the day wasn't too bad at all. The two entered the park and road a few rides and watched as the goofy acting girl freaked out in the mirror room. All in all, he had calmed down. Yet he would never admit he was having fun. Nope. "And? What does that have to do with me?"

"Cardiiiiin!" Her eyes were like puppy dogs and they were hard to resist. Especially with the flood gates ready to break through in full force. Indigo eyes closed as the teen rubbed the bridge of his nose and stepped up into the stand.

"Fine fine! Whatever, just this once." The teen paid the bald old guy who was manning the shop and obtained three darts. He picked one up by the tip and didn't even take a moment as he threw the dark like a throwing knife. It sailed quickly through the air and hit dead onto the smallest balloon in the crowd. Hena let out an excited squeak in response, only to release another loud one as Cardin threw the next dart and hit the next smallest balloon.

There was no effort at all when the final dart in bullseye onto the last small balloon. Successfully hitting all targets dead on and popping each and every one of them. "Yay!" The girl shouted excitedly as she chose the biggest stuffed fox which was given to her as a reward. The stuffed animal practically being bigger than the girl's whole body and barely having room to wrap her arms around it.

"You happy now?" The male said with a smirk on his face as he folded his arms. The glitter in the fox-in-hiding's red eyes pretty much said everything. "Heh, of course you are." The two began to leave the stall as the old man's head hang low at the loss of such an expensive doll.

『 Now Playing: The Man with Two Souls! 』

An electronic voice boomed out over in the distance. Hena turned her head over to the area and was faced with a large theatre offering various movies to be played. The girl only tilted her head in confusion as she looked over. "Playing what?" Her voice was miffed in confusion.

"Just a movie, looks boring." Cardin replied passively as he continued to walk by, Hena had stopped in her steps as she continued to look at the theatre.

"What's a movie?" It was the teen's turn to stop in his steps as he looked behind to see the girl hugging her newly acquired stuffed animal with that dumb expression on her face.

"A movie, you know uh. On a big screen, plays… a movie… with moving pictures…" Cardin tried his best to describe what exactly a movie was. The concept had never actually crossed him as the need to even explain such a thing never came up. "Ugh, you know what. Let's go." The teen would then just grab the stuffed animal as Hena too would be pulled a long with it to go watch a random movie.

"That was amazing!" The glitter in Hena's eyes never left as she and Cardin left the theatre in a crowd. "I never knew they could make pictures move like that."

A simple brow raised on the male's face as he spoke up. "Wasn't that movie more depressing then it was amazing?" The fox-in-hiding merely gave a bellowing laugh as she just grinned up at the teen.

"I had absolutely no clue what was going on!" The crickets in the mind of Cardin chirped loudly. Sometimes he thought this girl was just joking around when it came to being quite stupid. Yet by now, he knew for a fact that she wasn't joking when she said she didn't know or didn't understand. Hena turned around to continue moving forward, but bumped into a shadow man who was quickly running past. The girl huffed out as she fell backwards on the floor.

Cardin's anger took rise as he looked at the running person and shouted. "Hey watch where you're going!" The teen seethed as he turned and got hit in the face with a beret. He peeled the hat off and looked down at Hena. Both instantly froze as Cardin gained the sight of two extra pairs of ears. "Wait, you're a…"

The words never left his lips as he shifted from confused, to angry and even a bit of betrayal. Hena staggered off the floor shortly and stood up with mildly shaky legs. Cardin opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Causing the fox's ears to slowly fall as she slowly put down the stuffed animal.

If Cardin had said anything else, Hena didn't hear it due to quickly turning around and making a break for it. The only thing running through her mind was how stupid she was to even forget she was wearing the hat. Maybe it would had been better to let him know first and let him look in disgust and walk off. Yet she foolishly decided that maybe she could show him that Faunus weren't so bad and reveal herself later. That idea was thrown out the window just by looking at his face and his obvious thoughts portrayed.

It was then that the fox ran right into someone as he fell on his ass and Hena tripping around him. Her recovery was quick, but someone grabbed her hand before she could make a break for it. "Hey! Don't just tackle someone and run off!"

"Yeah that's right, you Faunus are so deranged and disrespectful!" A second guy spoke up as he cut off her exit. Hena's breathing began to slightly pace up as she yanked her arm harshly away. The one that grabbed her was pulled in as he lost grip and hit the floor.

"Hey, you bitch!" The one that hit the floor got up and made a swing towards Hena. The punch was slow. Civilian slow as the fox merely side stepped and pushed him on the chest with her palm. The guy lost balance from the force and landed hard on his back.

"Oh this girl wants to fight!" Hena turned to look at three other people. The one that grabbed her was getting up off the floor as two began to ball up the fists and rush over. Hena's breathing began to deepen as her expression turned sharp. Almost angry.

 _ **Did you hear? Hena got into another fight again. Again? What are we going to do with that girl…**_

Eyes flashed dangerously as she stepped into the guard of the guy on the right. A swift punch with her right arm landed onto his stomach and dropped him down with a heave. The other guy took the opportunity to strike, but Hena passively blocked it with her left arm and delivered a swift upper cut to his jaw. Making the guy stagger backwards as he covered his now bleeding mouth.

 _ **She hasn't been the same since… Don't talk about that! You know how she gets!**_

A loud crack snapped onto her back. The force causing her to stagger up a bit. Dangerous red eyes turned around as she looked at the one she palmed. He had broken a wooden pole over her back. Yet her semblance had already recovered the damage before she even finished up righting herself. The girl was trained to only use half her passive aura to defend against blows. The other half was converted into active aura and was used to heal due to using less aura compared to blocking a blow in full.

" _ **Hena, you idiot! You can't keep getting into fights at a whim!" A younger Slovik shouted at the little fox. "How do you expect to get adopted when all they see is a bruised and beat up little girl?!"**_

The fox's face extorted in anger as she dashed forward. Eyes widen from the one wielding the now broken weapon as he took a wild horizontal swing at the girl. With great ease, she weaved under the pole and slammed a fist into his stomach. Blood asked his lips as his feet lifted off the ground and he rocketed back until momentum dropped and he hit the ground hard.

 _ **Hena. There's little hope for you actually getting adopted. So we advise you apply for Atlas Primary Academy. There you can prove your worth as an… individual and gain an easy life. If you're even worth anything.**_

Breathing grew heavy and staggered as red eyes turned to see two more rushing at her. Another on the ground holding his jaw in pain. " **JUST LEAVE ME ALONE**!" Her voice screamed out as she rushed the two at a speed they weren't able to follow. Before they knew it, Hena had slammed a punch into one of them. Ribs soundly cracking as he gasped for air. The other raised his arm to block the incoming punch that soon followed. Yet the impact caused his arm to crack and bend. Look turning horrified as he staggered back and let out a pained yell.

" _ **Slovik! I was accepted! They accepted me into APA!" Hena's smile grew wide as now she can finally live the orphanage and take up room in the girl's dormitory.**_

" _ **Oh… great. That's cool." The young husky just stared in bewilderment. It was no surprise that the girl was an okay fighter. Yet he never expected the girl to have what was needed to gain admission.**_

 _ **Hena's smile was wide with happiness. Life was finally moving forward.**_

The fox couldn't stop shaking as she hyperventilated heavily. As she staggered away from the four, she pulled out her scroll which she could barely keep hold in her palms. Hena flipped on over to her contacts and raised Slovik's number and quickly dialing out. It'd ring with what felt like forever before the line finally picked up. "S-slovik. I need, help."

 _ **Look, another Faunus accepted into APA! They don't deserve to be here! They're just a plague onto society. Thinking their superior with their senses when they're nothing but a bunch of filthy animals. Hey did you hear that fox got into another fight?**_

『 Hena? Are you having another panic attack again? 』 The Faunus on the other side spoke up in a frustrated voice.

"Slovik… I." As she struggled to keep her breathing upright, she was cut off by her long time childhood friend.

『 Hena, listen. 』 There was a momentary pause as the only sound could be heard was the girl's staggered breath. 『 You need to learn to take care of yourself. You can't always be depending on people. 』 The husky began to rant out as she just shuttered.

"Slovik…" She tried one more time before her friend shouted.

『 Handle it yourself, Hena! 』

A loud click signified the end of the call.

" _ **Why do I always have to look after you Hena? We're from the same orphanage, but that doesn't make me your care taker!" Slovik. "Seriously? Why do you keep bothering me? Don't you have any friends of your own?" Slovik. "Just go and talk to them if you're interested in their topic. That's how you make friends." Slovik.**_ **"That's fine, she's my partner after all." Ceril…**

Hena swapped over her contacts and attempted to dial her partner. As the call began to ring she was hit hard in the back. A loud ding vibrating from a metal pole as she ricocheted forward and hit the ground. The call she was making ended as her scroll hit the floor. "What you did to my friends wasn't very nice." Hena staggered up with heavy breaths as she turned over to the individual that hit her. It was a light-brown haired teen wearing what appeared to be a signal uniform. With an extra of a belt buckle with the picture of a Dove on it. The teen seemed to have squinted eyes and a calm demeanor.

" _ **Hena, your attitude is unacceptable. If it wasn't for superior fighting ability compared to those of your classmates… You'd of been considered a lost cause." One of the many teachers spoke to the fox as she sat alone on the desk. "I know the life of a Faunus is hard, but it's no excuse." The teacher glared at her with a serious expression. "It doesn't have to be real, just smile and nod." Hena cracked a bad smile and nodded. "Good, we'll continue these lessons later."**_

Hena reached for her scroll and pocketed it as her expression turned feral. The new guy seemed to be holding onto a short pipe. Yet his stance was practiced and trained. These factors didn't play into the girl's mind as she charged him in a blind rage. A right hook took swing from the girl as the other evaded with a step back. His pipe drew back as he gave a swift blow to the side of Hena's head as a loud crack echoed throughout the park.

 _ **Your fighting style is unorthodox. Just because you can heal from the hits you take, doesn't mean you should take them. I advise throwing away those knuckled gauntlets and changing your weapon.**_

The blow did little to Hena as the damage from both concussion and splitting skin healed on impact. There wasn't even a stagger as a right fist landed onto the side of the squinted eye's ribcage. The aura took majority of the direct damage as he staggered backwards. Hena knocked the sword away that was on the side of her head with her left and reeled in as another blow was given on direct impact to his chest.

 _ **Why does this Faunus keep winning all her fights? Seriously all she does is take blows and counter attacks. No matter what weapon we give her it's always the same thing. The faculty would be hounding her if she didn't win all of her fights. That method won't work against Grimm. One blow is good enough to kill. This NEEDS to stop.**_

The teen's feet left the floor as he flew backwards. The male merely caught his balance as he flipped back onto his feet and blocked a left hook that he almost didn't catch. Rather than just staying still, he rotated against the momentum and twirled a horizontal hit that landed successfully on her waist. Hena's center of gravity faltered and the light-brown haired teen didn't relent. He recoiled as took a vertical strike onto Hena's shoulder and followed up by slamming his shoulder into her chest to knock her back.

 _ **A teacher looked sadly down at Hena in a battered mess. The other students obviously weren't overwhelming the girl enough to show that her fighting style was completely flawed. So the teacher took it upon himself to show her. "Hena… Are you really that intent on taking blows to gain advantages?" The girl shivered in pain as she tried to get back up, her aura already healing the damage. "Well an unorthodox fighting style requires an unorthodox weapon." Two loud clanks hit the floor in front of her. Her vision looked through blurry eyes as she stared at what hit the floor. Two basic kite shields. Just shields, nothing else. "If you're going to be taking blows, you might as well mitigate the damage as best as possible."**_

The tackle did not go as expected as Hena staggered back and spun. Her leg lifted as it kicked the side of his legs causing his center of gravity to collapse. Yet before he could do an aerial recovery, Hena rotated back around and grabbed him midair by the face. What happened next could only be described as pain. Hena pumped her active aura into her arm as she slammed him head first into the ground. Cracks began to splinter outwards even before his head met gravel. When it did, a small area around them mildly shattered in response.

" _ **It's a shame that she was born a Faunus. If she were human, I'd have no doubt she'd reach the top." Tears threatened to break through the young teen's eyes as she hid outside the classroom. Listening to the teacher that helped her through and through be like that rest. "Her display of combat and tactics is overwhelming and she showed no problem fighting amongst her first Grimm. I'd advice cutting her last year here and shipping her off to Atlas Academy. There is literally nothing left to teach her here."**_

The adrenalin began to wear off as Hena staggered out of the cracked gravel. Her breathing beyond haggard as she took heavy breaths for air. A crowd had gathered to watch the fight, but all she could see is the judging eyes on her. Even ones of both hate and scared. She was a Faunus who just beat up five guys, obviously they would look at her like she was the cause for the whole ordeal. Her shaky hands reached for her scroll as he attempted to dial her partner once again. Yet the girl couldn't keep a steady finger as she attempted to navigate through the device.

" _ **Yes, Headmaster. I plan to go to Beacon." Slovik spoke up as Hena hid around the corner. Beacon Academy in Vales. A more tolerable place to live for Faunus and maybe even a new start if she could get in… Atlas Academy was definitely on par in prestige when it came to training hunters, but the people she'd be graduating with didn't like here. No one liked her here. Sometimes she'd think not even Slovik liked here. Beacon… it wasn't a bad idea.**_

"That hurt…" Red eyes widened as the Signal student from before had gotten up and grabbed her by the hair. Violently pulled her down. "I don't think a small beating will suffice."

Hena balled her fist up as she was ready to reengage, but the teen began to lift slowly up. The girl only stared in confusion as the aggressor's turned into one of panic as he let go of the girl. He kept going up until she could clearly see Cardin. Holding up her attack high into the air. "What the **FUCK** do you think you're doing?!" Cardin cursed with vehemence as he threw the other teen with all his strength into a nearby shopping wall. As the teen hit, his aura shattered in response and was knocked out onto the floor.

Hena could only stare with wide eyes as the last person she expected to help had come to her rescue. "Cardin…" She croaked out weekly through her hyperventilating breaths. The teen only looked around to see the damage. Four guys in excruciating pain and the fifth literally looking like complete shit when he had gotten there. Originally he came to ask what the point of even hiding like that was. Yet looking around gave a clear understanding to why she did it.

If she can get into this much trouble by running off not even five minutes later… "Shut up and stop causing me trouble." He picked up the stuffed fox from where he placed it and walked up to the girl. Her beret placed back on top of her head to cover her ears. Hena shifted her gaze over towards the crowd as his own indigo eyes followed along. Seeing the crowd he gave a mean looking glare as he shouted. "Well?! Scram already, parties over!" His aggressive demeanor caused the crowd to quickly disperse.

"Cardin… I'm s-." Before she could finish her line, the teen lifted her up by the arm as he began to pull her away from the scene. Lifting up most of her weight as walking seemed to be quite difficult for the girl right now.

"Save it. Let's just get out of here before you cause more trouble." The two began walk off until deciding to hide out in a café. If anyone came looking for the girl, they'd be looking for a Faunus. The hat not being the best of disguises would still work to deter onlookers away. It even fooled him to an extent. By now, Hena had caught her breath and calmed down. Cardin sat on the other side of the table with the stuffed fox sitting comfortably next to her. Words didn't come out between the two as they sat quietly amongst each other.

It was Hena who broke the silence. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't have hidden what I am to you. Or even approached you." Cardin's gaze shifted over towards the window. He found Faunus' disgusting, but why? Well it was obviously because he was raised to believe they were. Nothing, but animals. Animals that can bleed, can feel pain, can cry. Hena probably didn't notice herself, but she was definitely crying through that pained expression of hurt and hate. His eyes closed as he contemplated his next words.

"So… why are you looking for a brother?" Cardin changed the subject and caused Hena to widen her eyes. As a simple of a question it was, no one had actually bothered to ask why. Her red gaze fell as she spoke up.

"I… use to have a brother. Back in the orphanage." Her statement caused Cardin to wince. He was ready to tell her she didn't have to explain, but she continued onward. "He was adopted into heavy labor." Her expression down trotted further. "I only ever got a notice a year later stating he passed away in a construction accident. At first I was using it as an excuse to replace my depression, but after a few years. I just leave it as a bad joke."

Cardin clicked his tongue as his gaze returned out the window. ' _Is it really that bad out there for people? For Faunus?_ ' He closed his eyes as he just sighed and reached over. He gave the girl a pat on the head as he spoke up. "Hey… I won't replace your brother, but if you want…" He murmured out the next line. "I wouldn't mind acting like one for you." Hena only blinked in surprise and awe as Cardin sealed his fate. That smile she wore when they first met returned in full force like the rising sun as she reached over and hugged him tightly. "H-hey! Personal space!"

"There's no such thing as personal space!" She couldn't help but laugh and giggle out the phrase her leader had told her on their first day together as a team.

* * *

≤ Vales: Outskirts - Indoors ≥

* * *

"Then it's fine, Arcana." Ceril was rubbing the bridge of his nose as he was speaking on his scroll with his unreliable teammate. "Send me a picture after you're done. You know how to do that right?" A loud humph broke through the scroll. Making the teen move the scroll away from his ears.

Thankfully he did, 『 O-of course I do! That'll be all! 』 He could clearly hear his least cooperative team member shout out to him before the call had been ended. The teen groaned as he leaned back onto the couch he was sitting on. His legs rose as he crossed them onto a coffee table in the middle of the room.

"That sounds like such a cute friend you have there." A man with a bowler hat spoke up, his own legs were crossed as he rested his cane on his lap.

"I'm not here to talk about my cute friend, Roman. You have something I want, and if you don't. I need you to get it." Roman could only laugh at the audacity of a teenager walking into his neighborhood and making demands. If it wasn't so amusing, he'd of kicked the teen out already.

"No need to be hostile. A business between friends is better than a business between strangers." Ceril frowned as he tilted his head.

"How about we move on. The cuff, I need it." A sigh escaped the red head's lips as he closed his eyes. He didn't even want to be here in the first place. Yet what he needed was literally illegal to sell. Possessing them was one thing, buying them was another thing. Yet selling them was downright illegal. Who made those stupid laws?

"Ah, you mean Atlas' Aura Cuffs? Am I right? Those are indeed quite… rare." Roman gave a knowing smirk. The Cuff was used on maximum security prison for Hunters that broke the law. It locked around the neck and made it completely incapable of using your aura so long as the cuff was charged or active. "Now what would a hunter-in-training from, Beacon need with a one of those?"

The red head shook his head. Don't ask, don't tell was a good philosophy when it came to shady dealings. Finding this part of town wasn't even hard at all. Following the bread crumbs criminals left behind was possibly one of the easiest things he had done to lane him over here. He tried several different establishments like Junior's Club, yet everything he turned to lead him here.

"Look… I'm not trying to be rude or anything. I just want one, will you sell me it?" Roman only laughed as he unfolded his legs and leaned forward towards the red head. A smirk on his face as he spoke up.

"You know those things are illegal to sell." Ceril was about to say 'no shit,' but held his tongue as he just quietly listened. "There you go, a calm face is all you need." Roman's gaze turned to the side in thought, then back at the teen. "So instead of selling, I'll propose. A trade."

The teen narrowed his eyes as he stared at Roman's wide grin. The older man had already won this discussion and he knew that fact well. "Fine… name your price." A wide grin turn feral as the orange haired man bared his teeth. A snap of his finger and one of his more… colorful associates strutted on over. Slowly placing a file neatly in front of him.

The teen removed his feet from the table as emerald eyes met brown and pink. Yet when she blinked, brown turned white and pink turned brown. Ceril shifted his gaze and let them fall onto the file as a gloved hand from the new female began to slowly begin to open its contents. "This man," a picture of a weary old person with a lot of grey hair. "has become a liability." Ceril's eyes sharpened, but Torchiwick quickly cut in. "Now now!" Before the teen could jump to conclusions, Roman spoke quickly. "He was hired to do some research for me and it turned up successful before he… broke relations. All I want is your team to snoop around the area I say. Find him and reveal everything he's done, but before that." The dual colored hair girl would place a tiny looking scroll onto the desk. "Connect this into his system and wait for the upload. Bring the device back to me immediately and our deal is done."

Ceril closed his eyes as he thought about his options. It certainly wasn't a bad deal for him if what he'd be dealing with wasn't anything too dangerous. He could even do this alone without his team if it came down to it. Roman would then whisk his hands as he playfully repeated a phrase from the teen's call earlier. "No Ceril, there aren't any strings attached."

"Fine…" Ceril all but growled out his last words as he palmed the small scroll. His eyes glazed down at the photo one last time. It had an address with a date on the paper. The red head's next action would then be standing up to leave. As he made his way for the door, that very short girl was already standing in place. Holding the door open for him with a small smile on her face.

"Excellent! I do hope to further increase our relations together!" The teen wasn't looking, but he definitely could feel that snarky smirk the man with the bowler hat obviously wore. Ceril gave one last look at the mixed color girl. Her eyes blinked to pale pink and white as her expression narrowed with a wide smirk. The teen blinked himself as his once emerald gaze would then open up to a piercing blue glow. Rather than offset the girl though, her eyes only grew with a more challenging gesture. A grin becoming wider.

An exasperated sigh was given as the red head rolled his eyes. It was obvious that this was one of those women his father told him not to ever get involved with. Downright bat shit crazy. His eyes didn't even fall back onto the girl as he made his way out the door, through the club and back onto the streets.

『 Ping 』The sound made the teen pull out his scroll in response. A picture message had been sent to him. He wondered if she sent a picture because Arcana wanted him to see or just doing it out of spite to show that he indeed did know how to send a massage. Regardless, the red head wasted no time as he opened up the picture which also had a caption to it. 'How does it look?' Arcana's face seemed a bit unsure. That exact question he asked obviously plastered truthfully on his face. A sporting smirk sprung on the teen's lips. He was about to give a reply, but something else caught his gaze as he blinked. Eyes turning back to emerald green.

Quite literally right behind Arcana was Remlin. Who was lost in thought while positioned sideways with a very compromising view of her barely budding chest and quite a nice round… The teen shook his head as he gave a soft chuckle. "Note to self, teach Arcana proper etiquette." He'd then swipe his finger to save the picture while marking the text itself as unread.

* * *

≤ Beacon: Dormitory ≥

* * *

It was rather late when Ceril finally made it back to his dormitory. He opened the door to see quite a few things happening. Arcana was standing in front of a mirror twirling around in his new dress. Hena was on _their_ shared bed hugging tightly onto her knew fox doll. Was that literally what she bought with the Lien he gave her? ' _Well it could had been worse._ ' The thought stroke through his mind as he looked at Slovik who was just snoring down on his pillow.

" **CERIL!** " Hena shouted in excitement as she lay her chin on top of the head of the doll.

" **CERIL!** " A shout came from behind as the door on the opposite end of the hall opened quickly. Remlin tackled him with literally no strength from the back as she reached into his pocket and stole away his scroll. Ceril tilted his head as the girl opened his messages and saw that the picture Arcana had sent was still unread. "Oh thank Oum!" She shouted as the message was inadvertently deleted and the scroll placed back into his pocket. The girl just let off a relaxed hum as she dashed back into the apart. Seeing a wave from a still tired looking Paul before the door closed.

A smirk left his lips as he entered into his room and closed the door. "So what I miss?" He asked as he began to remove his shoes and headed for the shower.

"Not much! I went to the amusement park, Arcana went to the mall and Slovik stayed lazily at Beacon!" The girl was all smile and giggles, absolutely no doubt in anyone's mind that anything had actually happened.

"Shut up, Hena." Slovik mumbled out as he groaned in his bed. Arcana strutted on over to Ceril and looked up to him with a questioned look on his face.

"How does it look…?" The silverette asked as he never had gotten a reply. A small smile left his lips as he patted the girl on the head again. This time no bite came and he spoke up.

"You look good Arcana." He gave an honest answer as the door closed to the bathroom.

* * *

 **AN: Well that's all for now! I don't have much to say here besides to thank the people who've bothered to stick through this mess of a story that I'm currently writing. Any questions, reviews or anything? Feel free to ask!**


End file.
